The Steel War
by ImpossiblePoet
Summary: Is history destined be repeated? Unfortunate events spark a battle between evil and...not-so-evil. ...
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I'm not usually one for ANs but here we are...In my mind this was going to be a sequel to 'Loopholes' and an attempt at something more interesting...but it's turned out that this story actually makes sense on it's own too, the only resemblance to 'Loopholes' is the characters Rocky Fluxweed and Kada Kettleworth. However, some things mentioned in 'Loopholes' will be elaborated/explained so if you've read it already, awesome, but if not, don't stress because you don't need to have to follow this story. It'll be a long one, but as usual my chapters are pretty short. I have time on my hands though, so I can actually promise reasonably quick updates. I'm waffling. On with the story!

* * *

_An owl hooted somewhere in the not-so-distant darkness. Amongst the trees, a rather plump woman glanced anxiously at her surroundings, tucking her silvery hair behind her ear before treading carefully away from the beaten path. She sighed as she saw a dark silhouette against a thin torrent of smoke billowing ahead of her._

_"Zelda!" she called out, quickening her pace as she approached, "Is that you, there?"_

_A proud-looking figure stepped forward, dressed head to toe in garments that made it strikingly obvious, even without the steaming cauldron behind her, that she was a witch._

_"Really," the witch sneered at the woman who had approached her, "Must you insist on forsaking the cloth of your calling and dress like that?"_

_"I could say the same to you, Zelda," the woman spoke breathlessly, eyeing the witch's pointed hat, "You don't do yourself any favours...we're in the midst of a witch-hunt, you know, my dear!"_

_"Oh, tattle," Zelda waved a hand dismissively, "I am a Hallow; I am one of the most powerful witches one could hope to be. I daresay that those who seek to destroy me do not match up to my magic,"_

_"Don't you say that," the other woman pleaded, "I've heard things, and I came to warm you, you are in grave danger. We-"_

_Her words caught in her throat as the two of them were surrounded by another source of magic. With a loud rushing sound, crackling blue strands of energy encircled them, as strange hissing voices echoed throughout the clearing._

_"Kill us breed, for power, for glory... do the deed, make them bleed, kill us breed..."_

_As quickly as it had started, the chant stopped, and an eerie silence filled the space it had left. The strands of magical energy ebbed, but were suddenly revived and transformed into a circular wall of icy blue flames._

_"There is... no escape," a quiet, but confidently calm voice spoke as another witch materialized in the centre of the circle. In the lack of daylight, it was impossible to glean any detail of this witch, other than that she was clearly a witch. She spoke in a taunting tone as she advanced towards the proud-looking witch. She then suddenly pointed a finger sharply to the plump woman's chest._

_"She's right you know... your enemy... has a new tac... tic..." she sang mockingly, directing her speech to the one she knew must be a Hallow. An evil smirk flashed across her face as a bolt of magic leapt from her fingertips, into the woman's chest. The plump woman writhed and screamed in excruciating pain for a brief moment, before collapsing to the ground. She lay like stone in a motionless heap among the first fallen leaves of the autumn._

_Zelda remained rooted to the spot in terror, knowing, as only a witch could, that her companion had not been able to fight the spell. In anger and an attempt at retaliation, she tried to cast a spell at the unknown enemy, but it was deflected almost as soon as the magic left her fingertips._

_"I wouldn't... do that," she drawled, breathing heavily, "If I were you... But you show... daring... a commendable trait... in a witch"_

_She cast what looked like a weaker version of her previous spell. It was as though she wanted to play with the taller witch; to watch her suffer for a while._

_"They like... brave witches," she whispered teasingly, "You could always... join us... You could... use your steel for... something use... ful... something much more glor... ious..."_

_For a long moment, the pain-filled witch glared up from the ground into her enemy's bloodshot eyes._

_"Never!" she croaked. Then she cast a very different spell. This time it was not one that was aimed at her enemy in retaliation, but one that was aimed at her own self, for she would rather die than face the torturous existence that her world was soon to be._


	2. Chapter 2

"I still can't believe you _lost _HB's broomstick, Millie!" Maud sighed, staring out of the pane less window.

The girls had been recounting the events of the day, when Mildred had not only repeated history and crashed and broken her own broom, but had also 'borrowed' Miss Hardbroom's, in an attempt to rescue Tabby from the roof. Mildred knew that she should never have flown in such stormy and windy weather, but she loved her little cat more than anything. It didn't matter to her that she had smashed her own broom, for she had never before felt as relieved and happy as she had when she landed safely with Tabby in her arms. That was until a vicious gust of wind had carried her teacher's precious broomstick over Walker's Gate and off in to the storm.

"You'll be in deep, deep trouble when she gets back" said Enid, interrupting Mildred's thoughts.

"What?" asked Mildred, "Where's she gone?"

"With Miss Fluxweed," Enid stated, "I saw them leave just after supper."

"Well that explains nothing," Maud muttered sarcastically.

"Fluxweed's lending her a broom isn't she?" said Enid, "She's probably taken HB to go get it..."

"Yes but, from where?" Mildred pondered aloud.

"Her house, obviously," Enid rolled her eyes, "She has a house. You don't honestly think that teachers live here all their lives do you?"

"Enid, _how on earth_ do you end up knowing this stuff?" said Maud, looking in disbelief as her friend just shrugged.

* * *

"Here we are!"

Constance stood very still for a moment, breathing deeply as she tried to rid her head of the dizziness she had experienced from flying and landing far too quickly. She looked around wildly, an odd feeling passing through her feet as she began to walk across the grass towards the little brick house.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Rocky called out as she fumbled with a rather large silver key.

"Perfectly fine," Constance muttered, despite wondering why on earth she had ever agreed to this. She hated racing brooms almost as much as she hated the idea of not having a broom at all.

Rocky just laughed. "Come on," she said, opening the house's rather small door, "I'll get you a drink"

Being taller than the other witch, Constance had to duck slightly as they entered the house. Once inside, however, she noticed that the kitchen alone seemed bigger than the entire house had looked from the outside. It was clearly a rather magical house. There were several large stone steps down from the door, and Constance guessed that the house must be partly underground. The room was tidy, but perhaps a little too tidy, for it looked as though nobody had been there in quite some time.

Before they had even had a chance to hang up their cloaks on the pegs beside the stone steps, a loud screeching sound filled the room. Constance instinctively shielded her ears and looked around in alarm, whereas Rocky just continued to put away her cloak and broom.

"It's me!" she called out loudly, "Get in here, you noisy bird!"

With that, the noise stopped. A flash of orange and blue flames, and then a tall, magnificent bird with shining golden feathers materialised, perching on the kitchen counter. At the sight of the bird, Constance immediately forgot that she had felt slightly nauseous. She was deeply transfixed by the creature.

"So beautiful," she whispered, still staring at those shining feathers, knowing that the bird must be an incredibly rare species.

"She's part-phoenix," said Rocky, smiling as she allowed the bird to jump up onto her hand, "I call her Ally"

Constance stepped forward, extending a hand towards the bird. "Can I-"

The bird screeched again, extending her long elegant wings and fluttering up onto Rocky's shoulder.

"She's a bit defensive," Rocky smiled apologetically, struggling to coax the flapping bird down again, "Ally, it's alright, she's safe; she's a friend!"

The bird's eyes were distrusting, and she flew up to the top of the cupboard, out of their reach.

Rocky sighed impatiently.

"She'll come to you eventually, I suppose. Have a seat, I'll make some tea."

"I didn't know you had a bird," Constance commented, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Well, I tried to bring her to the castle with me but she seems to like it better here," said Rocky, "I come back every few days to see her..."

"Perhaps she doesn't like to be around all those cats," Constance speculated, "Especially considering how badly behaved some of them are"

Rocky nodded, knowing exactly which mischievous cat her colleague had in mind.

"Have you thought up a punishment yet?" asked Rocky as she joined Constance at the table with the cups of tea.

"No," Constance sniffed and shook her head, "I'm much too – you know they don't even _make_ blackthorn brooms anymore?" She sighed, scowling at her teacup for a moment, "I do appreciate you lending me your spare broom it's just that... it won't be the same"

Rocky patted her colleague's shoulder gently as she went to fetch the broom.

* * *

The air was very still that evening. There was no wind, very little clouds, and it was not particularly cold.

The return journey towards Cackle's was not as pleasant as it should have been, as both witches were very uneasy. Constance struggled to get the hang of flying a racing broom; even if it was an older model, it was not at all like the traditional broom she was used to. She began to think that there was clear reasoning behind Rocky's uncomfortable-looking flying technique; these brooms certainly did not balance well. Although Rocky had agreed to fly more slowly this time, Constance still lagged behind her, silently cursing the unpredictability of her new broomstick.

Rocky drifted through the darkening sky, bored with the lack of height and speed. She kept shooting glancing back to her colleague, occasionally noticing an uncharacteristic nervous quiver and wondering briefly whether she should be concerned for her safety. Shaking off a fleeting urge to just leave her and fly away, she decided instead to cast an inconspicuous spell to help.

Constance noticed the subtle spell but she didn't say anything against it. She wanted nothing more than to be safely home at the Academy, for the darkness was beginning to play tricks on her; for a moment she could have sworn that the trees were chanting.


	3. Chapter 3

Mildred had stared down at her ingredients for the entire lesson, feeling terrible but concentrating intensely on getting her sleeping potion just right. Not that it mattered. She knew that HB would not acknowledge even her presence in the lesson. Nevertheless, she did not intend to create a single ounce more of trouble in her entire lifetime.

"I almost wish she'd just yell at me," she told her friends miserably as they left the class and dawdled out into the courtyard for some fresh air before supper, "It's been three days already! I feel truly rotten about the whole thing."

"Mildred," said Enid, "You should be _pleased_ that she isn't punishing you!"

"I suppose it doesn't really make sense though, Enid, I mean, why_ isn't_ she being all furious with Milly?" Maud wondered aloud, "I mean, she's got a perfect reason to make her life a living hell!"

Enid just shrugged as she picked a flower and began to flick the petals off it one by one.

"Oh, look!" Maud exclaimed in a hushed tone, "There she is,"

The other two turned slightly as their teacher swept quickly across the courtyard to the broomshed, where she emerged a moment later carrying broom that looked, in their opinion, much too short for the tall witch. As she strode on towards Walkers' Gate, Mildred turned back to her friends, leaning a shoulder against the stone wall and fiddling with the end of one of her plaits.

"Don't you think she seems a bit...sad?" she asked.

"So what if she is?" Enid replied, carelessly tossing the flower stem aside, "She wouldn't care if you were sad, she'd be all _'Never mind your broomstick, Mildred, get on with your work and stop being such a disgrace to the Academy'_..."

Enid carried on with her HB impression, making Maud giggle hysterically, and even bringing a slight smile to Mildred's face.

'Maybe she's right,' thought Mildred, 'Maybe HB's fine and it's just me feeling guilty about the whole broomstick thing...'

* * *

"Do you think Miss Hardbroom's alright?" Imogen asked as she stared passively out of the staffroom window.

"How d'you mean?" said Rocky casually.

"She's been messing about with that broomstick all evening," Imogen sighed as she sat down, "And she still don't think she's said anything to Mildred about losing her other one"

"I'm thinking she misses it more than just a little bit. She's probably just trying to get used to the new one, it's really quite a different make. And as for Mildred... I feel like Constance may be punishing her without actually doing anything,"

"What do you mean?"

"Look outside again and, well; just think how bad Mildred must be feeling right now," Rocky mused, "Guilt can be a pretty big punishment in itself"

"Where do you get this stuff from?" Imogen marvelled, refilling her cup of tea.

"Mistress Broomhead's got a promotion," Davina read out casually from the news section of a copy of Witchcraft Weekly she had been holding at a strange angle whilst sitting with her feet up dangerously close to the staffroom fireplace.

"Urgh, isn't she dead yet?" Rocky muttered, flicking a crumb from the back of one of her gloves.

"Miss Fluxweed!" Amelia gasped, "Whatever do you mean by that?"

"Nothing," Rocky shrugged dismissively, "I'm just being spiteful is all,"

Amelia scowled at her for a moment before turning her attention back to the news. "What promotion, Davina?"

"Well, it's not happened yet," Davina said breathlessly, "But it says here she's going to be given the title of Mistress of all Magic"

"And what's that?" asked Imogen, who was miserably aware that she was the only one in the room who wouldn't know such a thing.

"The highest authority in the Witches' Guild," Constance's stern voice preceded her body's appearance by the table, "A particularly honourable title. Who are we talking about?"

"Mistress Broomhead, Constance," Amelia explained, ignoring the look of intermingled disgust and horror that flashed across her deputy's face, "Although, I never thought she would... she's a bit, well... I never thought I'd see the day that a Broomhead became Mistress of all Magic. As far as I can remember there have been certain names that crop up every now and then, but never a-"

"Yes," said Davina, excitably, "It says here she's the first ever Broomhead to be considered! So unless she's a descendent from one of the families that usually-"

"She's not." Rocky interjected sharply.

"How do you know that, dear?" Davina spoke in a somewhat patronising voice, possibly irritated by the interruptions to her moment in everyone's attention.

"I can tell by looking," Rocky teased, although it wasn't far from the truth.

"Really, I don't know what people are thinking about, these days!" Constance rolled her eyes, "It's a preposterous notion!"

* * *

"Something feels weird," Griselda whispered, raising her head from the book she had been scribbling her spells homework in. Fenella also looked up on hearing her friend speak; shifting her eyes around the library where only a few of the sixth years were sitting at this late time of night, as though expecting to see the 'something'.

"What now?" said Kada, returning from the shelf with a heavy book, "Honestly, you two are such skivers, sometimes!"

"We are not!" Fenella said defensively, "I actually quite enjoy spells! Although... Fluxweed's getting increasingly like HB in her pile of homework-setting..."

"No," Griselda muttered, "It's not that, it's like... I can feel something"

"What – like a rain storm?" Kada pointed to the window. Griselda turned and gazed out at the trees on the other side of the courtyard wall as Kada moved silently around the table to stand behind her.

"Or like a GHOSTIE?" she pounced on Griselda's back as she shouted the last word.

Griselda let out a small scream as she quickly turned around and smacked Kada's shoulder.

"Shit, Kada!" she said loudly as Fenella just laughed uncontrollably at her reaction, "And for your information, not like a rain storm or like a ghostie! Unless there are ghosts in the forest..."

"There's no such thing as ghosts, anyway," Fenella pointed out.

"Quite right, Fenella Feverfew!"

They each gasped slightly as a purple pyjama-clad Miss Hardbroom materialized, sitting at their study table.

"Rather noisy for a study session, don't you think?" she said icily, "And rather late, too. Off to bed now and lights out before I decide to add to your _pile of homework_"


	4. Chapter 4

"Good morning, ladies," Amelia sighed as she took a well-earned comfy chair, where she intended to stay for the rest of the Saturday morning, "Anything interesting in the news today, Miss Bat?"

"Nothing short of death and destruction if Mistress Broomhead has in fact taken up the title-" Constance said in her most cynical tone.

"Constance!" Amelia scolded her half-heartedly.

"No, she might be right!" Davina squealed, frightening the others, "Look, look at this! There have been six fires... all of them happened last night and suspected to be magical in origin..."

She spread the pages out on the table for the others to see the pictures – not that there was much to see; each of the buildings looked to have been completely destroyed.

"Where's Miss Fluxweed?" Constance asked quickly.

"She's off-duty... she went out earlier this morning," Amelia replied nonchalantly, not noticing Constance's expression.

At that moment, the door was violently swung open as the witch made her entrance, and then slammed it shut again.

"Not you as well! Honestly, you two" Davina whimpered, somehow managing to use one hand to point at both Constance and Rocky, despite them being at opposite ends of the room, "I'll be having palpitations for the rest of my life if you continue like-"

She broke off, noticing that Rocky's outraged expression was almost as frightening as Constance's 'angry-face', and considering making a run for the cupboard just in case she turned out to be as sharp-tongued as their more well-known colleague.

"Someone," Rocky panted, "Has blazed my house"


	5. Chapter 5

"I do feel sorry for her," Amelia said quietly, "Imagine what she must have lost..."

"Not much, apparently," Imogen replied, lifting the last of the large pots of soup onto the serving table, ready for the girls' supper.

"What do you mean?"

"Well she could be putting on an act, I guess," Imogen shrugged, "But she told me she has everything she could possibly need in her cloak pockets..."

The supper bell sounded and Miss Bat flounced into the dining hall, leading the hungry students.

Clarice Crow was the first to reach the table, but it was not soup she was after.

"Miss Cackle, I have something important to tell you," she said breathlessly, "In the courtyard, there's a smashed-"

Her words were somewhat drowned out by the excited chattering of the other girls entering the hall behind her.

"Just a moment, please, Clarice! In fact, can this wait until later?" Miss Cackle sighed, "Girls! Quieten down now, please!"

* * *

"Miss Hardbroom! Miss Fluxweed!" Griselda gasped as she burst noisily into the staffroom, followed by a very frightened-looking Sybil.

"What on earth do you girls think you are doing?" Constance said incredulously.

"Please, Miss," Griselda panted, "It's Fenella, she's acting really weird. I couldn't find her for supper and Sybil and I looked – for her in the dungeons and – she was there and she tried to curse us for no reason"

"Where is she now?" asked Constance sharply.

"Still there, Miss. Gris used a spell to freeze her," Sybil said, looking nervously at Griselda, "But there's something else, too. Clarice said she saw something odd in the yard, there were some strange witches huddled by the wall"

"What did they look like?" Rocky asked, peering outside to see whether she could spot anything unusual.

"I don't know, Miss, I didn't see," replied Sybil, "But Clarice said they definitely weren't students or teachers,"

"I don't see anyone out there now," Rocky said, although that was not proof enough for her that there was no threat, "How d'you suppose they'd have got in?"

"Well the gate can only be opened from the inside," Constance reasoned, "And there's an enchantment over the school which recognises broomsticks that are allowed to enter. There's absolutely no way that-"

She was interrupted by a loud crashing sound emanating from a distant part of the castle. Rocky ushered Sybil and Griselda out of her way and carefully looked out into the corridor in time to see a bright red flame spiralling past before meeting the end of the corridor and evaporating into a thin mist.

"A warning," she muttered, more to herself than anything.

The others had seen it too. It was quite unlike anything they had ever seen before, but they could each feel its ominous presence.

"Constance," Rocky sniffed, "I think we should evacuate the school"

"I – yes," Constance nodded, "Until we know for certain what we're dealing with here...there's a passageway from the dungeons that leads off to a clearing in the woods, I suggest we use that... in fact, the entrance to it is just below the dining hall, I could transport everyone through the floor."

"Yeah, do that," Rocky agreed quickly, "If there are indeed enemies here, it'd be best if they don't know that we're on to them yet!"

"What about Fenella?" Griselda asked, looking worried.

"You two show me where she is and I'll find out what's going on with her, and then I can get the three of you to the clearing," Rocky then turned to Constance, "Then I'm coming back. To find out exactly what's going on here, and to fight it."

Her colleague merely nodded, but Rocky knew that she would fight this battle too. No matter how she acted, the school and its students meant everything to Constance Hardbroom, and she was not prepared to give it up without a fight.


	6. Chapter 6

"Girls! GIRLS, PLEASE! Be quiet and line up in your form groups immediately!" Amelia sighed, "Where's Constance when I need her?"

The noises and the blazing fire-stream had also reached the hall, naturally causing a scene of disruption and panic. Nobody had any idea what had caused it, and even the teachers were unsure how to respond.

"Maud, Milly, cover for me a sec!" Enid whispered, "I'm just seeing if I can see what's going on,"

"Enid, no! What if it's something dangerous?" Maud protested.

"Then it'll be a hell of a lot less boring than usual!"

* * *

Griselda revoked the freezing spell that she had cast over her friend.

Fenella emerged, looking somewhat dazed.

"Fenny," Rocky spoke sharply, "What's going on?"

"It wasn't me, Miss!" she said urgently, "Well it was but I didn't want to, I just suddenly got this feeling that I had to get Sybil and I-"

"What do you mean, 'get Sybil'? Wait, this'll be quicker if I just-"

Fenella's past voice echoed in Rocky's mind, 'I hope Gris's going to return my spell book after supper, I don't want to have to borrow a grotty old library copy again... wait who's that? Miss Cackl- _Seek the Hallows... You could be great... bring them to the gallows, those filthy shining Hallows_ –Sybil! – _bring them to the gallows... those Hallows'_

Rocky snapped back to the present moment, knowing for certain now that this was much more sinister than just troublesome fire-blazing witch-vandals. She transported the girl to join her classmates after placing a spell over her to temporarily prevent her from casting any spells.

* * *

"_We seek your most valued witches. Present yourselves, or we will hunt for you. "_

* * *

Constance could not tell immediately whether she had heard it, or whether it had been placed in her mind. Looking around at the witches she had just transported, she was sure she had not been the only one who heard it. But it had definitely not been an audible sound. Suspecting the worst, she began to hurriedly order everyone to run down the passageway to safety, wishing more than anything that it was possible for a single witch to transport a large group of people a long distance away.

* * *

Imogen, against Constance's protesting advice, had insisted that she run round and check the castle for any stray students. She had a feeling that some had been missing since supper, anyway. Hearing the silent call for _witches_, she convinced herself that she would be fine.

* * *

Rocky snatched Mildred, Ethel and Kada by the backs of their uniforms, ushering them quickly into the dungeon corridor where she had left Griselda Blackwood and Sybil Hallow encircled by a bubble of magical protection. The girls exchanged confused looks as their teacher stepped into the bubble too. Rocky looked back to check that Constance was still helping the others to safety.

"Griselda,"

Griselda nodded and stepped forward, "Mildred," she said, "HB took something from you before the inspection in your second year, what was it and where did she hide it?"

"My bats," Mildred looked even more confused, "Winky, Blinky and Nod, we thought she put them in that old trunk but it turned out they were hidden in her handkerchief"

Rocky looked at Griselda, who nodded sharply. She magically drew Mildred into the bubble before glancing to the youngest girl.

"Sybil"

"Ethel," she gulped as she faced her sister, "What broomstick do I have and how did I get it?"

"A Slazenger Hazeltwig," even in this moment, Ethel had a slightly cocky tone of pride, "Great Aunt Imelda gave it to you because I said I was proud that you finally passed your flying test"

Sybil looked up at Rocky and nodded, and Ethel was also pulled into the bubble.

"Kada," Rocky knew that she would have to ask this one, "Your parents?"

Kada shook her head, obvious tears forming in her eyes. She had realised what this was about.

"Kada?" Under any other circumstances, the girl's non-verbal response alone would have convinced Rocky, but now, she had to be more sure.

"Cursed each other because they blamed each other for what I- my powers that I-" Kada spoke barely audibly, but it was enough. Rocky drew her into the bubble, wrapping her arms around the girl's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Kada" she whispered, "I had to be sure," she looked around at the other girls for a moment before remembering her purpose, "Come on girls!"

She magically transported herself, her students and the bubble to an upstairs corridor. She felt the confusion emanating from the girls around her and stepped out of the safe bubble.

"Right," she said, taking a breath to calm herself, "No questions just now, stay here, stay quiet, and stay vigilant, I'll be back in a moment"

With that she opened a door to her right and stepped into the room the girls recognised as Miss Hardbroom's.

* * *

"Constance Hardbroom, you were supposed to be on the edge of glory, but instead you were on that rooftop with me"

The taller witch whipped around, hands raised in a defensive position. Seeing Rocky, and knowing from her words that it could not be anyone else, she lowered them slightly, but the events in the castle had left her on guard. Rocky's eyes flashed dangerously as she now raised a hand.

"Constance," breathed Rocky, pointing a single set of fingers at the witch, "What do these gloves hide?"

Constance did not show the same confusion at being questioned that the girls had. She had heard the call for witches, and she felt that Rocky's behaviour was a confirmation on her fears. She plucked a sheet of paper from her desk and meticulously drew the pattern she had memorised a long time ago.

"Possession scars," she said sharply, handing over the picture, "They're deeper on your left, and you said you would never use magic to try to fade them; you told me that you kept them as a reminder"

Rocky hesitated slightly, only considering lowering her hand. Constance knew that she had to prove who she was.

"You fly a ridiculous racing broom, you were expelled from witch training college in your first year for disobedience, and you eat an obscene amount of biscuits" Constance dared to show a small smile, "_It is me, Magda_"

Rocky nodded in relief and lowered her hand at last. Many people suspected that 'Rocky' was not her real name, but only Constance knew for real.


	7. Chapter 7

"That would have been a better question, actually," Rocky said, grinning slightly.

"I take it you heard the call too?" said Constance, looking worried, "You don't think it means..."

"Mass mental communication," Rocky sighed, "_And _I have reason to believe Fenella Feverfew was under a temporary possession spell. So yes, I think we have to assume the very worst."

"Well," Constance paused, fiddling with her sleeve for a moment before continuing, "Although I only know the _theory_ behind this kind of magic, I intend to fight. But from what I've seen, we're outnumbered, at least two to one."

"No we're not," Rocky smirked, moving back to the door and beckoning, "Girls, get in here"

The students exchanged apprehensive looks as they entered their potions mistress's study and assembled along the wall, now freed from the bubble. Constance scowled blatantly at Rocky.

"It's ok," Rocky assured her quickly, "I've checked them," she sighed and perched on the edge of the desk.

"Do you actually have a plan of action?" Constance demanded, staring at Rocky and gesturing around at the invasion of her space.

Rocky shook her head "Not yet. Sorry about this," she had noticed Constance's annoyance, "We have to protect the steel though, right?"

Ethel shot a concerned look at Sybil as Griselda sighed and Kada slid against the wall to sit on the floor; they each knew who they were, and each knew that something like this would happen eventually; they had been unknowingly recruited for a battle they had never wanted to even see take place.

Mildred was the only one who remained confused.

"The steel, miss?"

"Yes Mildred," Constance snapped, more irritated than ever by the girl's poor memory for things she had been taught, "Silver steel! I believe heritage is part of history and origins of magic-"

"I can remember what it is, Miss Hardbroom," Mildred interrupted hurriedly, "It's just – _me?_ I'm not even from a magical family!"

"Oh-" Constance gasped, "Yes, Rocky, _why have you brought Mildred_?" she asked, before hastily adding, "Sorry, no offence meant, Mildred"

Mildred shrugged in response; she was not offended, for her teacher had only voiced exactly what she had been thinking. Rocky had covered the lower half of her face with her hand as she looked from Constance back to Mildred with startling realisation.

"Mildred, I'm so sorry," she whispered, shaking her head slightly, "You didn't know did you? Oh, Mildred. Constance, I – Mildred, you – Mildred, you _are_ silver steel, it never occurred to me that of course, you wouldn't know."

Mildred and Constance both looked at Rocky, each as confused as the other. Griselda was the only one who spotted Ethel pulling a rather strange face behind Mildred's back.

"Mildred," Rocky bit her lower lip, "You're old enough to have a choice, now. I promise that I will explain all of this to you properly afterwards, but right now, you have to make a decision. You may stay with us and fight as a silver steel witch, or you may leave and I will protect you and your magic until all of this is over."

Mildred looked around at the other witches, still slightly confused, but as always, trusting her instinct to do the right thing.

"I'd like to stay and fight," she said firmly, "but what about Maud and Enid and the others?"

"If this really is a steel war," Rocky stated, much more calmly than she was feeling, "Ultimately it's us they're after. Everyone else has been taken away from the castle-"

"And frozen under magical protection," Constance interrupted.

* * *

Rocky had sat for a moment with her head in her hands before looking slowly around at the girls assembled in front of her. Her gaze landed on Constance before she spoke.

"We need some sort of plan," she said softly, "We need weapons,"

_Weapons? _The girls exchanged worried glances.

"Constance, you have the forbidden Almanac?"

Constance nodded.

"Good, that could be useful... What about the Mythecopia? Where's that? I know Miss Cackle doesn't keep it in her office any more" she added, shooting a slight glare towards Griselda.

"I have that in my possession as well, they're not in here though, they are extremely well hidden" Constance assured her.

"The Mythecopia probably won't be much use, but I'd rather we had it on our side," Rocky said, "Have you got anything else?"

Constance nodded. It was a common rumour that she was, in many ways, a mature version of Fenella and Griselda: a spell collector. Even from just looking at her room, Rocky could now tell for certain that much of Constance's spare time had been taken up by the process of acquiring an extensive personal library.

"D'you want to get them?" Rocky asked, "I don't doubt that you've kept them safe but... we might need them with us. Anything forbidden or rare or-"

"Dangerous?" Constance nodded as she stood up.

She waved a hand and the room fell to a state blacker than darkness. A chorus of gasps and "What the-?"s echoed around the room.

"Constance?" Rocky shouted in her mixture of worry and confusion, "CONSTANCE?"

Eerie silence was the reply. Unknown to each other, several of the witches in the room had tried and failed to create light using magic. No one could see a thing, and they could all feel the apprehension.

"What's happened?" whimpered a quiet voice that Rocky guessed was Sybil's.

"I don't know," Rocky admitted, "But this is ridiculous, I can't see a damn thing!" Rocky stood up and tried to feel her way around the room. She stumbled, tripping on Griselda's foot, and the two of them fell to the wooden floor.

"Shit," Rocky breathed, "You ok?"

"Yeah," Griselda replied, thinking that her teacher's language would be much more amusing in any other situation, "What're you doing?"

"I was going to look in the corridor, see whether it's dark out there, too," she rose to her knees and felt the way to the door handle, "No, I still can't see a thing!"

"This is stupid!" Kada declared loudly, "And _where the hell_ is Miss Hardbroom?"

"Here _the hell_ is Miss Hardbroom," Constance's slightly irate voice echoed rather loudly as she appeared in the centre of the room, the darkness lifting to reveal a room about six times brighter than usual as a result of the light spells, and one of Rocky's energy orbs floating around, "And mind your language, Kada Kettleworth, silver steel magic _does not_ put you above writing lines," she looked around, clutching several heavy books to her chest, "Why is it so bright in here now? And what on earth are you doing down there?"

"Are you totally oblivious to what just happened here?" Ethel piped up as Rocky scrambled back to her feet.

Constance looked around in surprise, "What?" Then a look of comprehension dawned across her face, "Oh, the secrecy enchantment! Of course, it would go off when I went to retrieve the books! I haven't seen it for myself, was it effective?"

Confused glances were exchanged yet again as Rocky gave the tall witch a very scornful look.

"_You_ did that?" she said incredulously as she moved swiftly towards her, "Constance Hardbroom, you absolute _arse_!"

As she spoke, she swung her right fist and whacked the witch rather forcefully across her upper arm. Constance looked outraged and stepped backwards out of her way as Mildred gasped in response; she could not believe that _HB_ had allowed anyone to treat her like that.

"I _actually_ thought something horrible had happened! I – urgh!" Rocky flung herself into Constance's chair, gesturing at the air in frustration, "You!" she looked around, "Don't do that to me – ever - again!"

Constance stared at her for more than just a moment before snapping back to the present. Bending her knees slightly, she carefully slid the pile of books onto the desk and flicked open the one at the top. It was a volume that none of the others had seen before, but one that Constance seemed very familiar with. It opened to the exact page she sought, as though she had practiced finding exactly what she might need.

"Right," she muttered breathlessly, "First line of protection is to defend our minds and thoughts, and indirectly, our actions. Stand up against the wall and I will cast this spell," she gestured to the book.

The girls assembled obediently as Constance swept to the other side of the room, seemingly no longer nervous. Rocky sneaked a look at the page, trying in vain to remember the words for the spell as her colleague moved slowly along the line, casting over Griselda first, then Mildred, Kada, Sybil and Ethel. As Ethel's eyes flashed with the completion of the spell, Constance turned to Rocky and tilted her head, indicating that she join the girls. She noticed that Rocky's hesitation was spiked with suspicion. Insisting that Rocky also be protected, she reached for the witch's hand. Rocky moved her hand away faster than Constance had ever seen anything move before, except perhaps Rocky's broomstick.

"Get out of it!" she shrieked. The taller witch drew back in a state of semi-confusion, as Rocky stood with her hands raised in a threatening stance. The girls exchanged worried glances in response to this odd display of behaviour.

"What did I say earlier?" Rocky demanded, in a somewhat accusatory tone, as Constance looked around wildly, "What did I say would have been a better question to ask you?"

"Oh, Rocky," Constance sighed, "Your name, your _real _name," she stepped forward and mouthed, "_Magdalena"_

Relief flashed across the other woman's face briefly as she lowered her hands again.

"_You have to trust me-_" Constance whispered, "_Rocky,"_

"I'm sorry," Rocky said, "I am, it's just – you did leave the room, and I tried, but I couldn't _pick you up_ and I just thought-"

"It's ok; I didn't want to be vulnerable out there so I cast the spell over myself as soon as I got the book. That's why you can't- I'm sorry, I should have proved it was me as soon as I came back."

"What," Kada interrupted loudly, "Are you two on about?"

"This is the point, Kada," Rocky explained, "There are enemies out there and we don't know who they're going to use against us. There is a kind of magic that they can use to invade other people's minds, to make them do things, to use them as weapons. If they're after us, they'll try to use people they think we trust. We _have_ to be vigilant."

"And not trust anyone," Constance added.

"Constance, I-" Rocky couldn't say the words she thought that she should. There had been a time when she felt that she trusted Constance, and she knew that perhaps, deep down she truly did trust her, but the feeling of an impending steel war was not helping. Her mind had been ravaged by an enemy before; under a situation like this, she barely even trusted her own thoughts. She could not admit trust to another person no matter how convinced she was that they were genuine.

"Did you know?" Constance whispered to Rocky, "When you advised me to evacuate the others?"

Rocky merely stared straight ahead. She had not _known_ what would happen. She had however, known that the flame spiral was some kind of warning; she had not doubted that there was something very wrong; even with no evidence, she had suspected that Fenella had not acted of her own accord.

"It's alright. But I do think we should hurry, Rocky," Constance now spoke sternly but calmly, "Look, you've seen the spell on the page, just let me do it, it's the best defence I can give you,"

Rocky took a large gulp of air as she turned and put her back against the wall beside Ethel.

* * *

A strange emptiness passed briefly through Rocky's mind as Constance cast the spell. She stared blankly for a long moment, marvelling at how quiet the world had just become.

She did not make a habit of prying into the minds of other people, and she had forgotten just how much she picked up on by accident. Over the years, she had got so used to the low-level murmurings and vague feelings she picked up whenever she was around other people. The blockade placed on her mind by Constance allowed her to feel, for the first time in almost twenty years, like an individual note; not in tune with her surroundings.

For a moment, just one moment, it was a blissful feeling.


	8. Chapter 8

**Cringy AN:** I'm not 100% about this chapter, but it does include some important snippets of information and is, I suppose a bridge into the actual action... on with!

* * *

"Rocky, are you alright?"

Constance was staring at her. Rocky felt a flash of confusion as she realised she could not tell just by looking that Constance's facial expression hinted at concern. _Have I been unintentionally invading her feelings all this time? _Still feeling a little dazed, Rocky nodded slowly, stepping away from the wall.

"Miss?" Griselda tentatively broke the silence that had filled the room in their shared nervousness. Constance and Rocky simultaneously turned their heads in response.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, not being altogether sure which of them she should address the question to.

"Fight." Rocky said simply.

Constance glanced at her colleague, deciding that the girls needed more than that.

"We – Miss Fluxweed and I – have reason to believe that the witches who have invaded the castle have a particular aim," she took a breath before continuing, "As most of you will recall, there have been witches throughout recent history who, for want of a better way to put it, want to strip us of our powers."

"But wasn't that stopped?" Griselda asked, "After the Great Magic Quarrels, didn't they put a trace on magic-snatching so that anyone who did it would be caught?"

"Indeed they did, Griselda," Rocky nodded, "However, if someone were to remove the trace... make it undetectable..."

"Of course, for the moment this is mere speculation," Constance sharply interrupted Rocky's dramatic speech, "However, as it appears that the similar traces placed on various other practices have been lifted, so it is safe to assume that those targeting the school tonight are a group of magic-snatchers."

"What other practices were there, Miss?" asked Ethel curiously.

"Fire blazing," Rocky spat, thinking briefly of her house, "Thought insertion, mind possession, some very evil stuff. The point though, is that these witches will be looking for us, we are carriers of the magic that they want"

"So what we're saying," said Constance, "is that we have to stop them. Not just to prevent them from hurting us, but to prevent what they would do, should they... acquire enough power."

There seemed to be a moment of mutual understanding of the gravity of the situation.

"How are we going to fight them?" Mildred asked.

"This fight, will not be about who casts the first spell," Rocky paced the room as she spoke, "The triumph will lie with whoever hits the hardest. You- are not trained to be impulsive and ruthless witches, but for tonight, you must trust your instincts. Do not over think, do not give mercy, and do not hesitate, because the enemy certainly will not."

"Really..." Constance muttered under her breath, disapproving slightly that the girls were hearing this.

"Yes, really," Rocky sighed, turning to face her, "I know that this sounds frightening to you, but the reality is that is really is frightening. You know that edge of glory you mentioned, Constance? Well, this is it. And we need to get a move on!"

Rocky then took the large books and somehow managed to slip them into her rather small cloak pocket with surprising ease.

"Mary Poppins has nothing on me," she grinned, noticing the few stunned looks that her action had attracted, "Anyway, back to business – Griselda and Ethel, you two come with me to set up a better safe base and – Constance?"

"Yes, the rest of you, we can make an impenetrable dome to trap th-"

"Wait, what?" Constance glared slightly in surprise as Rocky gave her an unexpected incredulous look, "You want to trap them in a cage? Is that really as far as you're prepared to go?"

Constance gave an uncharacteristically clear look of concern, and hesitated before speaking again, "Rocky... they're _children_, they're not in this for the kill, if we have a way to get the enemies out of the way, that's-"

"_But why? Why do we always do that?"_ Rocky exploded; she was far too full of frustration, "Stop evil, interfere with evil's plans, then what? Set evil free so it can come back and have another try? You realise that they just break whatever contracts we lay out, magical or otherwise? You realise that all this is happening because they have been let go before?"

"Rocky, please, you-"

"YOU JUST DON'T GET IT DO YOU?" Constance stepped back, shocked that someone had the nerve to speak to her like this, "BLOODY HELL, CONSTANCE!"

Rocky looked for a moment as though she might have done the magical equivalent of punching a wall, but she didn't. She took a sharp breath stared back at her colleague.

"I know you probably think this is just getting to me a bit, and so what if it is?" she spoke more quietly now, "I- come with me a minute,"

She practically dragged Constance away from the girls and out into the corridor.

"You're normally good in a crisis," she half-snarled, half-whispered, "But you don't get this. I know the things that I know because I've been on the other side, Constance. I know about the Hallows and the Hubbles, and not just them, and not just because of the job I had after I was expelled."

Upon clocking the meaning of what she was hearing, Constance realised that she had never felt such intense fear, even under Hecate Broomhead's most evil spells.

"There's a reason that _Magda Mandrake_ went off the radar at seventeen. It was these witches who possessed my mind. They used _me _as their filthy weapon; they didn't have the power to _steal_ my steel so they used me as a puppet to do their dirty work. Silver steel is unbeatable, so they possessed steel witches to take out other steel witches. That's something that_ isn't_ in any of the history books. So that's how I know, alright? That's why I want to fight properly this time, because _they will not give in," _she spoke with earnest and fervour, "If we let them go, they can come back, and those of us who escape possession will be captured, tortured, and killed."

Constance nodded briefly to show that she had understood what she had been told and opened her mouth to speak, but noticing a barely visible tear, Rocky beat her to it.

"_What am I saying_?" Rocky breathed in horror, "_You're right, they're just kids_, Constance, I can't make them do things like... We've got to do something though, you're right, trap them or – turn them into stone or something and then... then, we'll figure something out"

She paused, looking ashamedly at her own fingernails for a moment as Constance stood before her in complete silence.

"I'm prepared to fight to the death myself if I have to but... I'm sorry." Rocky was tough, but not tough enough to impose the hell of her own past on innocent children's presents.


	9. Chapter 9

"What d'you think she's looking for?" Griselda hissed to Ethel as they walked around the edge of the potions lab, having been casting secrecy spells from a page that Rocky had pointed out in the Forbidden Almanac.

"How should I know?" Ethel whispered back.

"Are you two done with those spells?" Rocky called as she emerged from the store cupboard with a bottle of blackish liquid.

"Yes, Miss," Ethel replied quickly, "What's that, Miss?"

The potion steamed as Rocky hastily poured it out into an empty cauldron. The two girls watched in earnest as the older witch rifled through her pockets and produced several large elastic bands and a small silver penknife, each of which she dipped into the cauldron.

"Eros Potion," she finally replied, handing an elastic band to each of them and twisting a third around her own wrist, "Put those on, tuck them under your sleeve, though,"

The girls obliged, still unsure exactly what the purpose of this action was. Rocky casually thrust the knife blade into the floor, pushing it in with her foot, and laid out the remaining four bands on the table. She began to pace the room, edgily awaiting the return of the other steel witches.

* * *

"ENID NIGHTSHADE! Come back here, this instant!"

Rocky looked to the girls in surprise; even in a time when the unexpected wasn't particularly unexpected, _that _voice was certainly not expected.

"I mean it, Enid! Stop right there!"

"I think that's Miss Drill," Griselda whispered, moving towards the door to investigate.

"_What're they doing?"_ Rocky groaned, following Griselda and catching a glimpse of Enid running past the lab, "They're not supposed to be here!"

Surely enough, Imogen Drill soon followed the unruly student along the corridor. Rocky made a decision to follow her, and Griselda and Ethel did the same. Ordinarily, Rocky would have told them to stay out of the way, told Imogen to quit the chase, but she could not sense the danger this time until it presented itself more obviously.

A curse of blue light narrowly missed the chasers as Enid finally gave up running.

"Enid," Miss Drill panted, "You need to stop this right now, it's not safe to be here."

"_I have a duty_," Enid declared, her voice subtly different from usual, "_And if you insist on getting in my way, non-witch, you are not indispensible!_"

Miss Drill began a "How _dare_ you!" as Rocky caught up with them and flung a shield spell between them.

"_You_!" Enid snarled, "_I bet you know where they are_-"

"No," Rocky spoke calmly, "Enid – fight it! You don't have to do this!"

She moved in front of her non-magical colleague to gain a better position to hold the shield spell if Enid was indeed going to attack them. A stalemate gripped the unlikely opponents for a moment. Enid knew that any spell she cast would hit the shield and ricochet straight back at her; Rocky knew that Enid's magic was not powerful enough to break the shield, but she could not risk doing anything else until she could judge it to be safe to remove it. Wishing in that moment that she could feel the girl's intentions, she was unsure how else to deal with this.

"Enid?" she said softly.

Enid looked up through darkened eyes, past her own raised hands, through the magical shield, past Miss Fluxweed... past _Miss Drill_...

"Fight it," Rocky whispered, having no idea what – or who – the girl was staring at behind her back.

Enid lowered her hands and turned away.

At the precise moment that she had decided not to attack her teachers, the backs of her hands erupted into fountains of flaming red blood. Time shuddered into slow-motion as she fell to her knees, a blood-curdling scream shattering the shield.


	10. Chapter 10

"Nice work, girls,"

It was not common for Constance to so obviously compliment her students, but uncertainty can do strange things to a person. Arriving in the potions lab, she was surprised not to see the others already there. She spotted the remnants of the Eros potion in the cauldron on her desk, and quickly distributed the rest of the potion-dipped elastic bands.

"Wear these at all times," she said sharply, tucking one underneath her own sleeve, "If any of us sustains an injury tonight, these should bring us safely back together,"

She tapped the wooden desk sharply, not even bothering to scold herself for resorting to such a ridiculous superstition. Looking down, she noticed something silver embedded in the floor beside her feet. Assuming that that was the potion's anchor, she moved a stool over it so that it wouldn't be moved or damaged by accident. It had been her idea to use an Eros potion; she did not like the idea of deliberately putting students directly in the path of danger, but she knew that they could not possibly prevail if they would have been outnumbered. The Eros potion would at least enable them a quick getaway if it was necessary.

"Where are the others?" Worrying particularly about her sister, Sybil raised the question that each of them had been silently thinking.

Constance wondered why Rocky might have left without revealing her plan. There was no sign of a struggle, yet there was nothing to suggest where they had gone. She could not help but think they had left in a hurry.

Unlike her unwary colleague, Constance's perception had not been dulled by recent magic; she still had her unique ability to sense trouble from a mile off.

"Stay here," she muttered, drawing a sharp breath and disappearing.

* * *

She arrived at the scene where she had correctly sensed there to be trouble. She stepped in front of Griselda and Ethel, but remained behind Imogen and Rocky.

"Fight it," Rocky whispered, having no idea what – or who – the girl was staring at behind her back.

Enid lowered her hands and turned away.

Constance swept past Imogen in what seemed like extra-slow slow motion as the girl fell to the ground in an explosion of blood and screams; the protective instinct within her leaping forth as she wanted to help the suffering child.

Rocky reacted faster, magically lifting Enid and freezing her into the stone pillar.

Constance thought she saw tears threatening to melt Rocky's warrior-strong eyes, but there was not time enough for concern. As soon as the moment of calm had begun, it was brutally interrupted by another, this time bigger flame spiral. The witches were unaware of which of them may or may not have screamed at the sight of the blazing trail hurtling along the floor like a manic snake towards them.

"_No – you – fucking – don't!"_ Rocky growled as the flame almost caught the back of Ethel's ankles and the hem of Constance's dress.

Biting her tongue to distract herself from the cringing feeling shooting through her teeth, she reached down and traced her right-hand spell fingernails along the stone floor, creating a spark that the blazing snake immediately began to follow. She spun it around the floor behind her own heels before regaining her usual height and holding it for just a second too long in the air.

Noticing burns beginning to form on her colleague's fingertips, Constance instinctively reached up and traced a circle through the air; the flame began to eagerly follow her hand like a flailing lasso before she flung it viciously back through the air in the direction it had originated from.

A collective sigh of relief was heard as the thing rounded the corner of the corridor

"How d'you do that?" whispered Griselda, breathless with fear yet also awe-struck.

"I have absolutely no idea," Constance quietly admitted with a nervous laugh.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: A tiny little chapter just to keep me going...I'm finding it very difficult to write the battle!**

* * *

Rocky sneaked a smile at Constance, mentally thanking her for covering for her momentary lapse in concentration, forgetting that Constance's earlier spell meant that she wouldn't even be able to transmit her message.

"You two make quite a team," Imogen said quietly.

Constance turned to her swiftly, only just remembering the presence of the non-witch.

"I told you to stay with the others," she sighed, a mixture of annoyance and exasperation lacing her voice, "you cannot be wandering around a battlefield with no way to defend yourself!"

Without giving Imogen the slightest chance to reply, she froze her into the wall beside Enid.

"We may have another problem," Constance said sharply before anyone could respond to what she had just done. Taking Rocky's hand, she said, "It burnt your fingers and the Eros Potion didn't do anything,"

"It didn't really hurt, though," Rocky reasoned, also examining her fingertips.

"How on earth could that thing_ not_ hurt you?" Ethel interrupted.

"Never mind that," Constance snapped, "We need to test it; our lives could depend on this working! Rocky, curse me"

"I'm not gonna do that, Constance," Rocky protested.

Constance sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance before casting a shield around herself and using it to ricochet a stinging spell.

The four of them were immediately transported back to the potions lab, landing in an almost-perfect circle around the silver knife embedded in the wooden floor.

"At least we know that it definitely works," breathed Constance, ignoring the girls' concerned expressions as she magically healed her own blistering cheek.

"Well, now we've established that," said Rocky, "We'd better get back out there; I thought we might be able to pick them off one by one but they're probably onto us by now if they're blazing fire in our direction."

"Yes," Constance agreed, speaking in a very business-like tone, "Now girls, remember, freezing spells, and then put them in the dome we've built in the inner courtyard. Try not to get into a duel unless you absolutely have to and...let's hope we can get this done fairly quickly."

"One more thing though," Rocky muttered, "Constance. Constance, you've got to get this spell off me, I can't pick up a damn thing like this!"

"But, you- what if -" Constance gulped, "Your mind, Rocky?"

"I'll just have to take the risk. I can't function under this spell, thought detection seems to have become like an extra sense to me, I could've picked up on Enid a lot earlier if I hadn't been-"

"It's too dangerous," Constance reasoned, "Can't you-"

"Please, Constance," Rocky stared into her brown eyes, "at least weaken it a bit for me, I need to be able to feel things!"

* * *

The seven silver steel witches left the potions lab together, each feeling their own mixture of apprehension and uncertainty. They seemed to wordlessly agree to approach from opposite directions, and divided once again, Constance and Rocky leading the two groups silently along the corridors.


	12. Chapter 12

"Not the Double Foster's effect," Constance whispered, mortified.

After the sneaky attack in the corridor, Rocky had retaliated with the same spell, and Constance had sent it back away from them, causing the jets of flames to spiral around the hallways, bouncing off one another, relentlessly expanding and multiplying.

Both Constance and Rocky reacted quickly from opposite sides of the staircase, knowing that they needed to keep the flames away from their girls if they were to have any chance of defeating any of their enemies. Each of them presented their casting fingertips as bait, and separated the two intertwining strands. Once they each had a blazing fire trail chasing them, they had no choice but to continue moving around quickly to keep them apart.

* * *

Once the flames had begun to be drawn away, Mildred and Ethel immediately recognised two of the enemies; the rather grubby-looking hench-witches Betty Bindweed and Millicent Coldstone. Mildred stared at them for a moment, but Ethel reacted quickly, whilst Bindweed and Coldstone were still looking the other way having not noticed the girls creeping up behind them. Remembering their instructions not to hesitate, she somehow simultaneously froze one wicked witch and tripped up the other. Snapping quickly back to reality, Mildred hurriedly froze the other witch. The girls levitated their stone-like forms into the dome they had created in the courtyard with Miss Hardbroom earlier.

* * *

Elsewhere, a well-aimed tripping spell cast by Sybil sent two more witches sprawling face-first on the cold hard floor. Griselda and Kada immediately hit them with freezing spells, jumping out from behind another stone pillar. Sybil and Griselda also decided to use levitation magic to transport the frozen witches roughly through the corridor, not caring whether they bumped into anything on the way. Kada had led them to the dome in the courtyard and watched as the other girls dropped their hostages into its confines.

"Aren't they ugly?" she whispered.

"Yeah," Griselda agreed, "Must be all their wickedness..."

* * *

"Rocky," Constance panted, running sideways alongside her, "I've got an idea,"

She extended her spare hand.

"What?" Rocky said stupidly as Constance tutted impatiently.

"Give it here," Constance hissed in an exasperated tone.

The other jet of flames leapt from behind Rocky's fingertips to follow Constance's, as both witches instinctively stopped running. Constance spun around wildly, arms outstretched, before directing the two jets straight towards each other above her head.

Rocky gaped in amazement as the flames collided forcefully, scorching the ceiling in an explosion. Constance let out a sharp sigh of relief, but Rocky's eyes were still fixed on the swirling sparks above, beginning to re-gather.

"Move!" she yelled, instinctively sending forth a powerful blast of air which pushed both herself and Constance away in opposite directions as the sparks merged into a lightning-bolt and hit the floor where they had stood seconds earlier.

Ethel had barely managed to grab Constance as the back of her heels caught the bottom stair, causing her to stumble. Rocky, however, had collided with someone very different.

As Ethel helped Constance to her feet, and she brushed away sooty dust from her pale face, Rocky turned slowly and silently to face...


	13. Chapter 13

"Hecate _Bumcrack_ Broomhead?" Rocky spoke much more calmly and confidently than she felt. "Well, well, haven't you been breaking your duel conditions?"

The taller witch looked down her nose at Rocky as though she were dirt, having recognised her from their previous scuffle in which Rocky had triumphed, banishing her from the castle.

"Not that I wasn't expecting it," Rocky added, readying a defensive spell in her left hand and a freezing spell in the other, "Play by your own twisted set of rules don't you?"

"I find it much better to be a rule-maker than a rule-breaker," Broomhead sneered, flexing her own fingers, "Just as it is better to cooperate than it is to retaliate...isn't that right, Constance, dear?"

Her malicious gaze wandered over Rocky's shoulder, a smirk cracking her face and a spell crackling at her fingertips.

"Ugh, whatever, you hypocritical hound," Rocky muttered, "I'm onto you!"

She deflected a rather feeble-looking spell, and immediately cast her freezing spell in response. She felt a small triumph as the witch's stony expression became even stonier. She wanted to do so much more, but remembered her promise to Constance. They were not in this for the kill.

As she watched Sybil and Mildred transported Broomhead's statue-like form into their impenetrable dome, Rocky felt a sharp flash of heat behind her back. The cool breeze of a deflection spell quickly followed before she even had a chance to spin around. Someone screamed.

"_Not my Rocky, you bitch!"_

Rocky turned to the source of the sound, but she could no longer see. Enveloped by darkness and then silence and then a moment of surreal non-existence, all she could feel was a sharp pain. A sharp pain that she was sure had not been inflicted upon her body.


	14. Chapter 14

"What is it? What's happened?" Rocky asked hurriedly, before she had even fully materialized in the potions lab once again. The pain she had felt whilst being pulled through nothingness by the Eros potion had faded, replaced by wild fear.

"It's Miss Hardbroom!" Ethel's panicked voice echoed across the potions lab, "Agatha Cackle appeared and she tried to curse you but Miss Hardbroom got in the way and she hit her!"

"What did she use?" Rocky said breathlessly, moving quickly across the room to where Ethel was standing beside Constance, who had turned to face the wall. The other girls had also materialized, and were standing around the room, looking concerned.

"I don't mean a spell!" Ethel yelled, "I mean she hit her, with her hands, with... something I... I think she stabbed her hand!"

"Constance?" Rocky touched the tall witch's elbow tentatively, trying to convince herself that she would be ok when she turned around. But Constance didn't move. Rocky motioned for Ethel to move out of the way and positioned herself at an angle between Constance and the wall. Constance's tear-filled eyes were staring avidly at the blank wall in front of her; her right hand clutching her left hand to her chest, shining red blood now streaming down the pale skin of her forearms.

"It's alright," she soothed, gently taking hold of her hands as a single drop of blood fell, splashing sickeningly onto the stone floor, "Let me see?"

They remained still for a moment as the girls exchanged worried glances behind Constance's back. Slowly, the potions mistress unfurled her fingers to reveal what had been impaled in the palm of her hand. Rocky let out an involuntarily audible gasp as Constance closed her eyes.

"We have to get this out," she whispered feverishly, "We have to stop it!"

"It's too late," Constance spoke with a mixture of firmness and intense sorrow, "It's gone; it's too late."

"No," Rocky shook her head in disbelief, pulling Constance across the room to her desk and forcing her to sit down. Grabbing the first piece of equipment she could reach, Rocky carefully but quickly pulled the object out of Constance's hand and dropped it onto the wooden table. Unsure whether it would be appropriate to heal the wound with magic, she grabbed a clean-looking cloth and wrapped her colleague's hand in it, gripping it tightly as though she thought the world might end if she didn't.

"What is it?"

Griselda had cautiously approached the other side of the desk; eager to know what was happening, but also reluctant to look. She too, gasped as she saw the bloodstained, yet deep blue crystal-like object that had been embedded in her teacher's hand. Being a clever student, she had some idea what the enchanted object might have done.

"Miss... are you...?"

Fearing that she could be right, Griselda didn't know what to say.

Constance could not bring herself to speak. She alone could feel the true extent of the damage. After what seemed like an hour, she held out her shaking hand and looked up at Rocky.

"You _can_ fix that with magic," she muttered, "It's nothing but a cut now."

Rocky obliged, running her fingers across the broken skin and watching it heal. As Constance withdrew the hand again, she felt that she still felt the pain, even if it was just psychological. She realised that her actions had been too late when she realised that it had been Constance's pain she had felt. The spell she had placed on her own mind had failed, allowing Rocky to pick up her feelings once again.

"She's a dirty dueller, that Agatha. I could've had her if it wasn't for this!" Constance breathed with a nervous laugh as she continued clutching her hand. Yet another involuntary tear fell from her cheek as she stood, and walked silently into the store cupboard at the back of the room, closing the door behind her. The second that the door closed, Rocky felt the enormous wave of grief that her colleague was attempting to conceal, but decided to leave her for a moment, turning her attention to the worried students instead.

"Miss?" Griselda murmured as Rocky gestured for them all to sit down.

"It is what you think it is, Griselda," Rocky admitted regretfully, realising that she was suddenly able to pick up on the girl's fears.

"Then has- has Miss H-Hardbroom...?"

Rocky nodded solemnly, "I think," she hesitated, not knowing whether there would be a 'best way' to phrase this, "I think that the enemies bewitched that crystal to take Miss Hardbroom's powers."

"No!" exclaimed Ethel, "She can't have, she simply can't!"

"I fear that she has, Ethel," Rocky said, placing the crystal into a small glass jar and pocketing it as she moved around the room, "Stay here for now, please, girls."

"Constance?" Rocky opened the door slowly and slipped into the store.

* * *

"She's got to be wrong!" said Ethel indignantly, "A witch like Agatha could never just steal Miss Hardbroom's powers! Miss Hardbroom is a silver steel wit-"

"Oh shut the hell up, Ethel," Griselda moaned wearily, "It's stupid people like you that attract trouble to the steel, acting all high-and-mighty and telling everyone you're better than them. If you used your brain, you'd realise that Agatha's crappy magic didn't do it, it was brute force that stabbed her with the crystal!"

"You really think she's lost her powers, then?" asked Mildred in disbelief.

"Well she seemed pretty upset," Kada said, "When have you ever seen HB do a Miss Bat and hide in a cupboard?"

"That's not funny, Kada," Griselda snarled.

"It should be," Sybil sniffed, "But it isn't."


	15. Chapter 15

The tall, formidable witch had never looked so tiny. Curled up in a corner beneath shelves upon shelves of potion-making ingredients, she raised her head from her folded arms as the other witch entered and sat silently beside her for a moment.

"I've asked the girls to stay there for now," she said softly, "D'you want to talk?"

"What is there to say?" Constance replied sadly, "I've lost my magic," she sighed heavily, "What the hell are we going to do now?"

"I don't know," Rocky admitted, somewhat truthfully, "But we have to keep fighting... Broomhead was put in the dome just before we were all summoned back here; I think there's only Agatha left out there now."

"I can't," Constance rubbed the stinging tears from her eyes, "I can't fight. I've got no magic. They- they've won."

"No," Rocky shook her head vigorously, "You might not have your magic, but they don't have it either – you got away before she could take the stone away from you. Your magic is safe in the stone for now, I-" Rocky felt stupid explaining this to Constance; she realised that Constance would already know all this.

"We can't surrender," she added feebly.

"And just what do you suggest?" Constance half-sobbed, "That I go out there and fight without magic? She'd kill me like _that!_" She clicked her fingers to emphasise her point.

"_I _will fight Agatha," Rocky assured her, "You stay here for a few minutes, get yourself together and then go back to the girls and get a plan together for what we're gonna do after that... Yeah?"

"Without – magic – though – " Constance snarled through gritted teeth.

"Yeah," Rocky sighed, "You know, a really great witch once told me that magic is not the only thing that makes a really great witch..." She glanced sideways at her colleague, hoping that she would recognise her own words from the past, "...was she bullshitting me?"

Constance shook her head in disbelief, allowing herself a slight smile.

"Right, well, if there's really only Agatha out there now, without the spell in my mind at least I can second guess her. And I'll fight her to the death for this."

"Without the spell?" Constance repeated, "My spells have faded already?"

Rocky nodded sadly.

"You've got the book, still? In your cloak? I'll find the page for you and you can cast it again,"

"No," said Rocky softly, "It's ok, I can do this. In a way I'm glad that it's Agatha. There's history here and I have surprise on my side... something I can twist to our advantage."

"What do you mean?" Constance looked puzzled as Rocky began to cast a very different spell over herself; one she recognised as a spell to remove a WitchOver.

An almost-recognisable but rather different Rocky emerged, grinning slightly.

"As far as Agatha knows, Magda Mandrake is one of her followers... I highly doubt that she'll think of trying to control my mind if she thinks I'm already under her control."

"You c-" Constance couldn't speak, she felt the weight of what Rocky was saying to her, "Are you sure?"

Rocky nodded, brushing her long, frizzy Magdalena-hair out of her face.

"We're so close," she whispered, handing her trademark gloves to her colleague, "We just need to play more to our strengths now."

"Strengths?" Constance breathed, grief hitting her yet again, "I'm a witch with no magic!"

"Potions, Conce! You're the best damn potions teacher in the country. The world, even..."

"If I was such a great witch, why is my only talent something that requires... no magic?"

"It's not. You have confidence and control and logic and intelligence and you're really-"

"Ok, stop that," Constance looked embarrassed, "We need to fight; and if you're sure about this, you need to go!"

Rocky nodded, satisfied that she had convinced Constance that she could still win the fight with them.

"Here," said Rocky, removing her cloak, "Take this; I don't want it to fall into the wrong hands if-"

She didn't dare say it; she daren't admit that there was a chance her plan could fail. She draped the cloak around Constance's shoulders, fastening it loosely and planting a small kiss at the side of her face before disappearing to where she felt that Agatha may be.

Constance was surprised to feel a single object out of the many things that the cloak's pockets must contain, pressing against her right side as she moved slightly. She reached her hand into the pocket and pulled out the object. Holding it up to the light, she saw that the stone inside the little jar contained her magic, but instead of striking her with the grief of losing it again, it struck her with an amazing idea.

* * *

Constance re-entered the room where the girls were waiting with bated breath for someone to return. Confusion flashed across their eyes when they saw HB wearing Rocky's cloak and gloves.

"Rocky's gone to find Agatha," she explained breathlessly, "And I, have an idea."

She quickly rifled through the pockets of Rocky's heavy cloak, searching among what must have been the woman's_ every_ possession, to find her own books. '_How does she manage to wear this heavy thing?_' she thought, '_And how on earth does she manage to find things? Whenever she gets anything out of the pockets it's as though it's the only thing in there.' _She couldn't help but marvel slightly at the intricate and elaborate magic the item clearly contained.

"Here," she said triumphantly, laying her most precious forbidden book on the wooden desk in front of her. As she opened the book to precisely the page she needed, she realised that it was not only practice, but magic that helped to locate things in those pockets. A familiar voice echoed in her unprotected mind,

'_We each find what we need to find'_

Knowing that Rocky had located their enemy, she felt the pressure of time beating within her own heart.

She read out the instructions for the potion she had been inspired to make and observed the girls to make sure that it was exactly perfect.

Her mind was not quite dark enough for her to be a ruthless murderer, but she fully intended to have revenge; to take from the enemies what they had taken from her.


	16. Chapter 16

Imogen knew there was no escape. Unless... She tried to hide the hope from her expression as she spotted another figure skulking in the shadows behind Agatha.

"Torturing non-witches, now are we?" Rocky announced her presence in the Great Hall where Agatha had bound Imogen to a chair with heavy-looking metal chains. She knew that she should proceed cautiously; Imogen's presence had not featured in her plan of attack.

"Well, well," Agatha sneered, turning to face her, "Magdalena Mandrake... you finally decided to show your filthy-steel face, then?"

"Bit rude," Rocky stated casually, stepping forward into the light "But I'm glad I took my time, this all seems a little... tedious... it's not like you need my steel to kill a mere-mortal"

Imogen's heart sank. She did not recognise this woman, and judging by the way she was speaking to Agatha; she was not at all likely to have come to her aid. Despite this, she could not help but wonder whether there was indeed something familiar about the woman's mannerisms.

"It's just about to kick off," Agatha said gleefully, "Once this waste-of-space creature cares to inform us where her little silvery friends are hiding... We expected two or three but there's _seven_ of them, I've seen them with my own eyes"

"I told you, they froze me! I don't know anything!" Imogen sobbed, "Please-"

"Shame you can't read her mind, isn't it Aggie?" Rocky muttered, teasingly nibbling her thumb nail, "Or you could have made a steel-strength truth potion. Then you could have cursed her and be done with it. Did you think of doing that? Or could you just not do it?"

"No, but you can!" Agatha was delighted that her lemming had finally returned, "And if you won't... I can make you do it!"

A familiar shocking feeling sparked at the back of Rocky's neck as she fought against hearing the chant she had not expected to hear again.

'_Do the deed... kill... for glory... make them bleed... do... kill...make th...'_

The fear spread from the non-witch's face, through the air, blocking the chant and filling every space it could reach within the hall and within the witch. The feeling strengthened the witch she had chosen to be, and she knew that that witch would fight the one she had once been forced to be.

'_Magdalena, you filthy weed...do the deed'_

Imogen wanted nothing more than to close her eyes as she saw the wild-haired, pointy-nosed stranger raise her left-hand fingers up to her face.

_She held a magical shield in front of the woman, she had told Enid to fight it. To fight it. Fight! Defend the steel!_

Deep in her own thoughts, the witch stopped, seemingly to taunt the sports mistress with the idea of imminent death.

_Years since, she had cared for Kada... and Constance, 'Don't leave me...Rocky...'_

A deadly spell crackled through the magic in her blood.

_She had refused to leave Constance... And tonight, she had helped Fenella... I'm not an enemy, I'm a defender!_

"DO IT NOW!" Agatha screeched, both in Rocky's mind and in reality.

'_Not my Rocky, you bitch!' FIGHT IT!_

The deadly spell leapt from Rocky's fingertips. Her right hand had flown across and wrenched her left hand away from Imogen's face.

Rocky fell to the ground in agony as she felt the old scars erupt with new cuts. Blood leapt from the intricate swirls once again. Yet again she knew, it was a punishment for her disobedience.

Looking wildly around, she noticed that her spell had hit Agatha instead. But she didn't care. She might even have been pleased if she had been able to feel anything but pain.

"Huh," she breathed heavily, returning her attention to the non-witch, "This is twice I've saved your wandering butt tonight!"

She cast a spell to release Imogen from the chains, groaning as the action caused her hands to bleed more heavily. Agatha's magic was still having an effect on her; clearly the misdirected spell hadn't killed her yet.

Rocky created another impenetrable dome around Agatha's limp form, just to be safe. Then she fell forcefully to the floor once again; barely coping with the increasing pain in her hands caused by three consecutive spells against her commander.

Imogen walked shakily over to her. "_Who are you?" _she asked.

"Imogen, it's me, I'm Rocky," the stranger replied, breathing heavily as she scrambled to her feet once more, "Potions lab – now! Help me!"


	17. Chapter 17

"I think Agatha might be dying, or she's hurt at least," Imogen announced as she burst into the potions lab, half-carrying an exhausted Rocky, "What the- _potions class? Now?"_

"Obviously I'm not _teaching_," Constance said scornfully, "Well, I am a little bit, I suppose. This is to snatch their magic. It's _almost _as bad as killing them... and it's almost done, Rocky, we just need crystals..."

"What would a wooden sword do?" Rocky sounded delirious as she slumped into a chair at the back of the room.

"What on earth's happened to you?" Constance asked, noticing the blood streaming from the wide cuts across the back of Rocky's hands.

"I'm not very obedient," she let out a giddy, high-pitched laugh, "You're a genius, Constance, you just need crystals." She swayed slightly, the pain making her light-headed.

Constance's attention was drawn away from the intricate potion for a long moment, as she gazed at the bleeding witch, not having any idea how to respond, especially without her magic.

"Miss Hardbroom!" Ethel called out, "It's ready, what are we going to do? We've nothing to dip in it!"

"Does it have to be crystals?" Imogen asked innocently, "Could you not improvise a bit?"

Constance looked rather offended by that question and began a snappy retort, only to be interrupted by a smashing sound from behind her. Rocky had reached for an empty glass bottle and forcefully smashed it across the desk. She was picking out several of the largest shards.

"Hell, Rocky!" Constance sighed, "You'll hurt yourself!"

Rocky just laughed impatiently. She could not even feel the glass through the already deep cuts on her hands.

"Turn these into glass crystals!" she explained, pushing the shards towards the edge of the table.

"Of course," Constance sighed, "Here, someone whose hands aren't dripping... Sybil, transform them...hurry up..."

Sybil hurried towards her and proceeded to transform the shards into glittering crystals. Mildred picked them up and looked to Miss Hardbroom for confirmation.

"Use the ladle to dip them in, Mildred," Constance nodded in approval, "Be careful not to spill any on yourself."

Mildred's eyes widened in fear but Constance swept across to the cauldron to help her with the crystals.

"It's ok," she said softly, "It would only take your magic if it touched your blood, but it would definitely hurt if it touches your skin."

"What happened to Enid?" Imogen asked suddenly, "Somehow I got unfrozen but she was still under the spell..."

"Who froze you?" Kada answered with a question.

"Miss Fluxweed froze Enid," Imogen looked as though she was struggling to remember, "But I think Miss Hardbroom froze me..."

"That explains it then," Griselda sighed, "Miss Hardbroom's spells faded. Should we go and unfreeze Enid now that-"

"No," Rocky interrupted her sharply, waving a finger at her, "Wait."

"This will work most quickly if we get them as soon as we can," Constance called, "Rocky, could you-"

"I wouldn't risk it," Rocky sighed heavily, "Not even for a biscuit"

"How else-"

"Broomssstick...left pocket," Rocky slurred.

Constance reached into the small-looking cloak pocket and pulled out Rocky's racing broom, much to the astonishment of most who were watching.

"I can't fly this thing," she said, recalling her efforts to tame a similar but slightly less 'wild' broom, and not being altogether sure whether she'd be able to fly with no magic anyway,

"I can do it," Kada quickly volunteered, "If someone carries the crystals, I can fly us there."

"Ethel," Constance beckoned, scooping the potion-dipped glass crystals into a metal tray, "Take these, you just need to stab the enemies with them like you saw before; the veins in their arms are the best place to do it. You don't need to unfreeze them or anything. Once you see enough blood for a drip of it to form, take it out and keep it safe. Don't use each one more than once, and bring them straight back here afterwards."

"Because it sounds like it makes sense, because," Rocky rambled, resting her head on the desk, not even noticing that Constance seemed to know more than the forbidden book on this topic.

"Yes, Miss Hardbroom," Ethel said quietly, taking the tray of crystals and sitting on the broom behind Kada.

"Miss Hardbroom," said Mildred as they took off, "I really am truly sorry about your broom,"

"Not now, Mildred," she replied dismissively, settling herself on one of the little wooden stools opposite Rocky in silence, deeply concerned over whether she had taken the right course of action. Rocky had seemed to agree with her, but she had a dark history with those witches, and who was to say that she was even thinking clearly in her current state? Constance wondered whether she had merely acted out of a selfish desire for vengeance.

Rocky stared blankly at her for a while, barely even noticing that everything was fuzzy and dark.

"Constance," she whispered as her colleague leant across to wrap her hands in a large cloth, "I'm falling..."

"You're ok, Rocky," Constance said loudly, moving around to try to support her, "You're safe!"

Rocky grasped the front of Constance's dress, knowing that this time she had gone too far; knowing that she wouldn't have much time unless the girls succeeded in taking Agatha's magic.

"She knows what to do but if she doesn't, if there isn't time-"

"Rocky!"

"I didn't mean to do it, I'm sorry, Constance. Constance, look after Kada for me,"

"What?"

Constance looked around, wondering whether anyone else was making sense of Rocky's words. But the others just returned her confused stare.

"What, Rocky? What are you talking about?"

Her voice became more panicked as Rocky didn't respond. She held Rocky's hands and stared into her glazed-over eyes.

_Constance... I'm falling... _

Once again Constance had heard silent words, and this time Rocky really did fall forcefully into her arms. Catching her and laying her shallow-breathing body gently onto the floor, Constance had to blink back tears of terror as she glanced around for any sign of hope.


	18. Chapter 18

A bright flash of light startled Constance as a golden-feathered bird appeared in front of her.

"Ally?" she whispered, recognising it from Rocky's house.

She realised that the bird must have survived the fire after all, and supposed that it must have sensed the danger that her mistress was in.

But the bird seemed indifferent to the unconscious witch, and fluttered lightly into Constance's lap instead, nuzzling its head against her shoulder as though both seeking and providing a source of comfort. Inattentive to the presence of everyone else, Constance gently stroked the bird's sleek feathers, allowing a tear to fall.

'_She'll come to you eventually, I suppose... Have a seat, I'll make some tea.'_

* * *

_Kada, tell HB...tell her everything, Kayda, I'm falling..._

"I won't let you fall, Rocky," Kada muttered, barely audibly as she and Ethel climbed off the broomstick.

"What?" snapped Ethel, her nerves frayed.

"Nothing," she shrugged, moving quickly forward.

"Are you sure about this?" Ethel whispered cautiously as she approached a motionless Agatha.

"What are you on about?" Kada replied, knowing that they did not have time for hesitation, "Come on, HB knows what she's doing, she just can't do it herself right now!"

"I know..." Ethel hesitated, "It's just..."

* * *

Ally moved her golden head away from Constance's shoulder and turned her gaze sharply between her and Imogen, seemingly confused. She fluttered her wings as though preparing to fly away.

* * *

"Oh, give them here," said Kada impatiently, "Honestly!"

She snatched the glass crystals from Ethel and forcefully plunged a particularly sharp one into Agatha's wrist, feeling a brief moment of pleasure at their revenge as she took the wicked witch's powers.

Ethel just watched her, somewhat amazed that the girl had enough courage to carry out such a heavy task.

Kada moved among the enemies with force, precision and an odd gracefulness, as though she had rehearsed these actions in her mind many times.

* * *

Ally hooted loudly as Rocky made a feeble movement.

Constance's attention quickly snapped back to her colleague, noticing that her hand had twitched slightly.

"Rocky?" she whispered, setting the bird down upon Rocky's chest and taking her hand.

Rocky's mouth twitched into a slight smile but she still did not open her eyes.

"I'm – getting – too old – for this – " she murmured.


	19. Chapter 19

The fight had been won, but it had taken its toll on the steel witches.

Once Agatha's magic had been taken, her spells had faded. Griselda and Mildred had fetched Enid back from the wall she had been frozen into, and much to Constance's relief, Rocky had slowly and painstakingly returned to consciousness. They both still sat on the floor, cleaning up the now painless cuts on Rocky's and Enid's hands. Imogen and Sybil fussed over Kada and Ethel as they returned with their triumph; the broomstick lay to one side of the door, having been tossed carelessly aside.

* * *

Amelia Cackle cautiously entered the room, quickly looking around at everyone inside, and feeling a wave of relief that, despite various bloodstains and bedraggled looks, nobody appeared to be seriously hurt. On her way up from the dungeons, she had already seen the destruction in the corridors; the scorch marks and shattered glass fragments littering the castle; the frozen witches strewn across the floor of the inner courtyard; and her sister in the Great Hall.

She cleared her throat to announce her presence as she closed the door behind her. Constance lifted her head wearily. She had forgotten that her spell over the rest of the school's inhabitants must have faded.

"Well," Amelia sighed, "All the missing girls seem to be here... now, who froze me?"

"I did, Headmistress," Constance admitted, "I thought it best to keep everyone safe so that I could come back and find out what was happening. What happened when the spell faded?"

Amelia was mildly confused by the question; she had assumed that whoever had cast the spell had revoked it.

"I re-froze everyone else and came up here to see what was going on... what exactly is going on?" she looked around at Rocky before adding, "And who on earth are you?"

"Rocky," she replied, before realising that she still didn't look like Rocky, "Sorry. Magda...but Rocky... I... WitchOver..."

She really did not have the energy to explain. She might have been rescued in time, but she had not escaped completely unscathed.

"Wait, you're Rocky Fluxweed?" Enid interrupted, a look of comprehension spreading across her face, "Wait... those gloves...did this happen to you before?"

Amelia then noticed the state of both Enid's and Rocky's hands.

"They look like... They didn't, did they?" she whispered, looking deeply horrified.

"Possession scars," Rocky nodded, "Well, _disobedience_ scars, really, I suppose. It's a punishment for not carrying out the commander's instructions. Hurts like hell, but it's better than the alternative."

Amelia knew that possession magic had never been particularly well-understood by most of the magical world, particularly at the time of the Great Magic Quarrels. She understood then why Rocky had had to change her appearance and her name, why she wore the gloves. She did not quite understand why she had changed back now, however, she made a decision that the welfare of her girls was much more important than Rocky's experiences at that moment.

"Miss?" said Enid, thoughtfully, "I started to fight it; I wasn't obeying it... why did you freeze me?"

"You disobeyed once," replied Rocky, "It's not easy to keep fighting after that. I know you're quite skilled at being disobedient, sometimes, Enid, but every time you disobey, the punishments get worse. I didn't want you to be hurt."

Enid looked at her own hands for a moment before speaking.

"Thank you," she said quietly, before looking sadly up to Imogen, "Miss Drill – I'm so sorry,"

"It's not your fault, Enid," she replied softly.

"I'd say it won't happen again, but..." she looked back fearfully at Rocky.

"It won't," Rocky assured her, "The witch who put you under possession has had her magic snatched, so the spell will have faded by now. You were under for a relatively short amount of time so I think you'll be ok"

"My goodness," whispered Amelia, "I haven't seen that kind of magic since the Quarrels...Mind possession...Magic-snatching... I thought they had made it impossible to-"

"Mistress Broomhead," Constance interjected, "She gained a position of power and we think she used that power to remove the traces, and allow the beginnings of another steel war. Thankfully, we have been able to disrupt that."

"Wait, wait – am I right to think that you lot used a magic-snatching potion?"

"Yes,"

"Constance, you-"

"In retaliation! I don't believe that contravenes either the law or the Witches' Code!"

"They were snatching, too?" Amelia gulped fearfully, "Did they hit anyone?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a very short moment while Constance took a deep breath.

"None of the students were hit," she said truthfully.

Amelia looked to Rocky, wondering if her drastic change was the result of a faded spell.

"And neither were your teachers," she added. It wasn't a complete lie – she didn't say that the deputy headmistress hadn't been hit. "If you'll excuse me," she continued, "I think I need some air after all of this,"

She turned and walked through the door. It was a mark of the great respect for her that the others played along with her act. Rocky knew that she would have to tell eventually, but for now, she realised it was too soon, and decided to give Constance the time she needed to come to terms with what had happened to her.

"I suppose we should fetch everyone else back now?" in uncertainty, Amelia looked around for approval, "I mean – is it safe to bring them back?"

"Yeah," Rocky nodded, "We can't really leave them out in the woods all night."

"I'll go, I'll have to unfreeze them all," said Amelia, "I expect we'll have to give them an explanation...they did miss pudding after all"

"Surely that can all wait until morning?" Imogen sighed, "Does any one of us even know the whole story yet?"

"I see your point, Imogen," replied Amelia, who was still rather unsure about the whole situation, "We can hold an assembly tomorrow morning. Will you two see that these girls get to bed alright?"

Imogen nodded as the headmistress walked away. She glanced at Rocky, who was still dabbing her hands with a cloth. Rocky looked up at each of the girls.

"It is your choice," she whispered, "whether you choose to tell your classmates the details of what you were involved in tonight. You all fought really well tonight, but if you do not wish to be identified as a silver steel witch, I will make sure that it's not mentioned in the assembly. I understand. But I want to speak to you all, before the assembly."

Averting her gaze again, she barely noticed as Imogen beckoned for the girls to go up to their rooms with her. Enid nudged Rocky's arm.

"What about the scars, Miss?" she asked, "Will people know what I did?"

"Enid, there will always be people in the world who do not understand these things. But these scars are not a reminder of the horrible things that you have done or almost done. They were created because you chose to do what you felt was right, instead of what you were ordered to do. Let them be a reminder of the fact that you have the strength to fight against evil"

Enid looked doubtfully at the witch, taking a moment to comprehend what she had said. She nodded with a slight smile before following the others to bed.

Only Mildred and Rocky remained in the potions lab, although Rocky's exhaustion had allowed her to believe for a moment that she was alone.

"Miss?" Mildred whispered, startling Rocky. Rocky remembered that she had promised an explanation.

"Let's go for a walk outside, Mildred," she said, "It's a mess in here,"


	20. Chapter 20

Rocky stopped Mildred at the edge of the courtyard by the door when she saw someone else out there.

Constance was standing in the middle of the yard, holding what looked to be an extremely badly battered broomstick. Spotting the two witches, she strode angrily towards them.

"MILDRED HUBBLE!" she yelled, her face like thunder. Rocky protectively put an arm out in front of her student, without really knowing why.

"This is entirely your fault, Mildred Hubble! If you hadn't been so careless with this broom, those vile witches would never have been able to even enter the castle grounds!"

Rocky could tell without even looking that tears were beginning to run down Mildred's cheeks. But Constance was crying too, and she didn't know who she should comfort.

She just wanted to sleep.

"You always seem to get praised for saving everyone, but I seem to be the only person who sees that there would be nothing to save them from in the first place if it weren't for your carelessness!" She was practically shaking with rage, "I was upset when you lost my broom, but that was nothing compared to this. Mildred Hubble, you as good as snatched my magic yourself!"

She threw the remains of the broomstick at Mildred before storming off back into the castle.

"She's upset, she doesn't really mean all that," Rocky assured Mildred, sitting quickly on the nearby bench as her head started to spin slightly.

"It's true though," Mildred sobbed, "It is my fault! I'm a danger to everyone, I-"

"Mildred, be quiet and sit down," Rocky said softly but firmly, "This is not down to you. Miss Hardbroom has been through a terrible ordeal tonight, she-"

"But-"

"Just listen to me, please, Mildred. I admit that you losing her broomstick was careless, but it was an unfortunate accident. You never meant for it to happen, did you?"

Mildred shook her head silently, attempting to straighten out some of the broomstick's tail twigs.

"No, of course you didn't. And as for what happened tonight, Mildred... I suppose it is possible that Miss Hardbroom's old broom allowed the witches to gain entry to the school grounds, and if it was, nobody could have predicted that. However, it is not the only possibility. Mistress Broomhead, I believe, removed the traces from several deadly and illegal forms of magic. We don't know what else they may have done."

"Why were they after us, Miss?"

"All through history, there have been power-seekers, those who want to take magic that is not theirs, from witches like-"

"Silver steel witches"

"Yeah, and I'd hate to think what they'd do with it," Rocky sighed heavily, "I said I'd explain how I knew who the steel witches were, didn't I? In the Quarrels there were three old steel families which were targeted."

She took the remnants of Constance's broom from Mildred and fiddled with the broken twigs as she spoke.

"The original steel witches were the Hallows and the Blackwoods. _Everyone_ knows about the Hallows, they always did brag about it...so Ethel and Sybil Hallow..." for a moment Rocky looked as though she was struggling to keep track of her train of thought, "Yeah, the Blackwoods weren't as well-known...but Griselda and Kada and I are descended from the original Blackwood witches... And Miss Hardbroom... well, I don't really know where she inherited her steel from, actually,"

"And me?" Mildred looked up questioningly, "My family are not magical..."

"Very much the opposite, Mildred."

Mildred scowled in confusion.

"Your grandmother, Mildred, your dad's mum, Helga-"

"She died when I was a baby, Miss."

"I know, she died to protect her magic," Rocky felt the pain in her hands once again, although she knew it could not possibly be real anymore, "Helga Hubble's ancestors were silver steel witches, and they were very powerful. The Hubbles can be traced back almost as far as the Hallows can. They were the third target in the Quarrels, but they were very wise. They pretended that they were not magical at all, in an attempt to evade capture. It worked out rather well for _most_ of them...as far as I know."

"But I've never met any of my dad's relatives..."

"I expect they don't know who you are... I'm sorry, Mildred. I never realised that the act had gone so far."

"Are you saying that my dad doesn't even know that he's from a powerful magical family?"

"I don't know, honestly. But it's possible. Helga was very clever...she said that the best liars are the ones who manage to convince even themselves... "

"Did you know her, then?" asked Mildred, feeling strange to hear a quote from the grandmother she couldn't remember.

"In a manner of speaking," Rocky replied curtly. It had always been her intention to leave out the final detail of her relationship – if you could call it that – with Helga Hubble.

They sat for a while in the darkness, neither of them knowing or caring how late it must now be. Mildred pondered over whether her father had known that his daughter possessed such powers; surely it must be a more than a coincidence that she had been offered a place at a school for witches. But there was something else on her mind, too.

"If I have such powerful magic," she wondered aloud, "How come I'm the worst witch in the school?"

"You're not," Rocky smiled, "Not all the time, anyway,"

"But I'm all clumsy and I mix my spells up. Even after tonight, I mean, some of the stuff you did was really impressive and I – I don't feel like I'm anything like a _proper _steel witch." She sighed before adding, "Not like you and Miss Hardbroom..."

"Just because you're clever enough not to be arrogant Mildred, and for you, that affects your confidence," said Rocky, "You can do anything, what would HB say? It's just down to your confidence."

Mildred quickly looked up, surprised to hear a teacher use the girls' nickname for Miss Hardbroom.

"What?" Rocky responded, "I know you lot call her that!"

"What's going to happen to her, Miss?" Mildred asked tentatively.

"How d'you mean?"

"I'm not sure she can be, you know, not a witch. She says she can only dance to one tune."

Rocky stifled a small laugh, somehow knowing exactly what Mildred had meant.


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: I'm desperately hoping that my 'tying together of the loose ends and unexplained areas' is beginning to take form and make sense! And if it doesn't, my excuse is the huge headache I have, which I'm blaming on the fact that I am far too British to cope with this hot weather! :P**

* * *

Catching a glimpse of her own reflection in a dark window, Constance snarled at herself in annoyance as she passed. Having a room at the top of the castle's turret was all well and good, if you didn't have to _walk_ all the way up there.

'I'm never going to be able to keep up this act,' she thought, sighing loudly as she opened the door to her personal quarters.

* * *

"Rocky, could I have a word?"

Rocky turned slowly, hearing Amelia's oddly stern voice behind her as she walked back down the stairs having taken Mildred to her room and then checked on the other girls.

"Right now?" she replied, sounding almost tired as she felt.

"Yes, of course now!" Amelia scowled, "And where's Constance?"

"I don't know," said Rocky, truthfully, "I expect she's getting some rest, it's been a horrific night,"

"Where have you just been with Mildred?"

Rocky massaged her temples, wondering why her superior had suddenly become so much more questioning. Then again, she realised, they had still not given her a very satisfactory explanation.

"I promised her an explanation – before – she didn't know that she's a steel witch"

"On her grandmother's request, I believe!" Amelia's usually-soft eyes flashed with a mild outrage.

"What? _You knew?_"

"Of course I knew! How on earth do you think a supposed non-witch was ever given a place at a witch academy?"

It made sense, but Rocky still couldn't believe it. _Just how many people had been in on this charade?_

"Well, surely it's better that she knows who she is, isn't it? At least her grandmother wouldn't have died in vain!"

"I expect you glossed over the fact that it was _you _who murdered her grandmother?" Amelia said in a very hushed but intimidating tone, "Don't think I don't recognise you now, _Miss Mandrake_,"

"Really, Miss Cackle, I-"

"Whatever really happened here tonight, I do hope Constance has an airtight explanation!" Amelia's glare flashed dangerously, "Even if those witches were steel-snatching, it was completely irresponsible to put these young girls in such incredible danger!"

"We wouldn't have beaten them without the girls! And you can't blame Constance for any of this, she didn't-"

"Spare me, I don't want to hear it right now," the older witch sighed heavily, "I have six wicked witches and a ravaged school to deal with!"

"D'you want me to-"

"You've done quite enough already," she snarled.


	22. Chapter 22

Rocky didn't notice that she was no longer able to walk in a straight line until she collided with a cold, hard wall.

"Urgh," she sighed, brushing a hand over her right arm and continuing, turning her full attention to the simple skill of walking around.

* * *

Constance lay face-down on her bed, Rocky's bird perched on the edge of a chest of drawers beside her. Constance did not bother to look up as Rocky entered and sat down beside her. The bird, however, eyed both of them suspiciously.

"Amelia just gave me a bit of a bolly," she sighed, "Of course she's old enough to be rather familiar with the handiwork of Magda Mandrake,"

Constance sniffed loudly as she turned her head slightly to speak.

"_A bolly_?"she repeated indignantly, remembering just how irritating her colleague's mannerisms and language could be at times.

"A bollocking," said Rocky nonchalantly, "A bit of a telling-off, if you prefer. She said she was looking for you as well,"

"Well she can just keep on looking," she huffed, not having any particular desire to speak to anyone at the moment, "I'm not going to see her if she's _handing out bollies_"

Rocky could not hide her laughter at Constance's slightly sarcastic imitation of one of her rather uncouth sayings. Constance merely turned her face back to the pillow, sighing loudly as she noticed that it was damp from her own tears.

Eventually, Rocky spoke again, despite knowing that her words were unlikely to offer any comfort.

"It will be alright, Constance," she whispered, "It always is in the end, right?"

"Maybe in cheesy bloody fairytales," Constance sniffed, slowly sitting herself up but feeling too ashamed to meet Rocky's gaze.

They sat in silence for a while, Rocky not knowing what to say and Constance wishing that she did not have to face the reality of what had happened. She started to think of the sacrifices that had been made for her to keep the powers she had never asked for. And now she'd lost them.

"I'm nothing without my magic," she said miserably, "All those years I wasted studying; everything I endured from Broomhead and all the rest of them, and for what? I convinced myself that I had to be the best witch I could be, and now I'm nothing. Meaningless."

Constance was renowned for exaggerating for dramatic effect, but now she was saying only what she was feeling. Rocky saw painful tears trapped in her eyes, but she was unable to cry any more.

She draped one arm around Constance's shoulders and gently running the fingers of her other hand through her unravelling dark hair.

"You're not meaningless to me," she whispered softly, now fighting back her own tears.

Rocky held her for a long time; neither of them cared anymore about whether it was supposed to be a bit weird. There was so much still to discuss and to do, but they simply did not have the energy or motivation.

Constance eventually looked up at Rocky's Magda-face.

"You do look rather strange like that, you know," she almost smirked, feeling a fleeting sense of familiarity.

"I know," Rocky sighed in agreement, "My nose is far too pointy isn't it?"

Constance flicked her fingers at the nearby lamp, to no avail, before shaking her head in annoyance and reaching across and fumbling with a match to light it.

"No, it's not that, I – " she held the lamp up to her companion's face, "I know you – "

"I'm Rocky, 'course you know me, what're you - "

"Not Rocky," said Constance sharply, "Magda!"

"What're you on about?" Rocky asked confusedly, "And will you move that blummin' lamp out of my face?"

"It has to be you; it's too much of a coincidence..."


	23. Chapter 23

On her request, Rocky stared into Constance's eyes and tuned into her memories, briefly doubting the possibility that Constance could remember something that she couldn't.

_A tall, dark-haired girl stood before her tutor. The girl stumbled slightly as the older witch hurled a vicious spell towards her but she quickly resumed her rigid stance. It was the only form of defiance she dared to show; she refused to show any sign of weakness. _

_Magda stood for a moment, shocked, yet admiring the girl's obvious strength._

_But it wasn't right._

_Magda might've been young but she could already spot dark magic when she saw it. For the first time, she stepped out from the shadows, revealing her presence._

_The older witch stifled a surprised gasp as she raised a hand._

_"Mistress Broomhead, please," the taller girl pleaded quietly, "She's just a child!"_

It had had to be Broomhead...but then the girl...

_"You still dare to interrupt me," Broomhead replied in a chilling tone, "You will learn, you foolish girl, you will learn,"_

_She turned her hand, intending to punish her old target yet again, momentarily forgetting the presence of the intruder. Magdalena had not forgotten why she had interrupted them, and deflected the spell before it could hit the other girl. She felt that the girl's look of pure terror in response to this action would have been better suited had she taken the spell's hit._

_Broomhead's eyes flashed dangerously as she returned her attention to Magdalena._

_"I know that spell," the small girl whispered, "So now I know you – you're evil!"_

_"You know nothing," Broomhead spat menacingly, "Constance here's correct, you're nothing but a child!"_

Constance?

_"A child who knows the difference between what's right and what isn't! Why are you doing that to her?"_

_"Tut-tut," said Broomhead, "Let's turn this to a teaching advantage... Constance, the Thanatos spell..."_

_Constance did not move. She would not perform such an evil spell. Constance was quite a young student herself, but she knew that she could fight it easily – with practice and with her magic – but this girl... she looked like she would still be a schoolgirl... she..._

_"Constance Hallow-B-"_

_"Alright!" Constance interrupted as she stepped forward, hoping that luck would be on her side._

Constance...what?

_Constance reluctantly cast the spell, the first and last time she would cast a Thanatos spell. She felt sick as the evil magic passed through the tips of her fingers. But the girl did not fall, she did not scream. She barely moved at all. The magic within her defended her and deflected the spell._

_It was hard to tell whether Broomhead was furious or amazed. She magically pushed Constance away, almost as one would with a branch hanging too close to a footpath._

_"What's your name, girl?" she barked._

_Constance mouthed 'tell her' from behind her back, her eyes pleading for the girl to be obedient._

_"Magda," she said quietly._

_"Magda...what?" the older witch inquired._

_"Just Magda. Magda nothing," she replied, "I'm a solo flier."_

_"Don't you try those tricks!" Broomhead sneered, "I know you're a steel witch, you could not have deflected Constance's spell otherwise! You can go with my – colleague – out there; I know she would very much like to meet a creature like you!"_

_She grasped Magda's wrist and began to push her towards the door._

_"What about her?" she yelled looking back to Constance, "I'm not leaving her!"_

_Then someone else spoke. Someone who Constance hadn't been able to see, but whose voice was quite recognisable to Rocky._

_"You can do so much better than just acting like a hero..." _

Agatha Cackle.

Rocky turned away from Constance.

"...you could be the most powerful and glorious witch, be anything, and be everything" she muttered, completing the wicked witch's words.

They were the only memory she had from before the possession. She knew that her mind had been addled by evil magic, but she had never before realised just how much of her life's memory had been left completely inaccessible.

Constance reached for Rocky's hand.

"I'm sorry," she whispered sadly.


	24. Chapter 24

Neither of them slept, they merely sat for hours in each other's silent, brooding company. Eventually Constance got up, and Rocky wondered what time it was. Glancing at the clock in the morning's dim light, she could just make out that it was nearly five. She considered asking Constance whether they should go and speak to Amelia earlier than the usual pre-assembly staff meeting.

"I'm not going to the meeting," Constance sniffed, leaving Rocky momentarily confused, wondering whether her throbbing mind had accidentally asked her the question, "Will you cover for me?"

"Yeah," Rocky replied instinctively, "But can I please borrow your magic mirror to fix my hideous wicked-witch nose?"

Constance sighed as she pulled the mirror from her cupboard and handed it over, watching jealously as Rocky began to cast spells at it, her nose adjusting to the changes she made to it in the mirror. She knew that she should be glad that the girls had indirectly saved Rocky with their potion – _her potion_ – but she felt too lost without her magic.

She silently cursed at herself for being what some people had described as 'overly-magical'. She knew that it meant that she wouldn't be able to conceal her lack of magic for very long. People would quickly notice when she began walking everywhere and...not zapping annoying objects and...being defenceless... But the non-magical side of her was intact – _well, almost_, she thought – she was determined to remain the school's image of strength and power, even if she felt like she had neither.

"I don't know if I can be bothered with doing the whole thing, I might just do the nose for now," Rocky muttered, interrupting Constance's thoughts.

"What?" she said half-heartedly, before she realised she had actually heard what Rocky had said, "Well there's no point, we all know who you are, now."

"There is a point," Rocky argued, "What you showed me, before...there really is a point."

"What do you mean?"

"I couldn't remember any of that stuff, could I? I had no memory of you, and I have no idea why I was even at the college that day," she paused, scowling at herself in the mirror, "All I know is what Agatha said...and then I know what they did to me. I can't remember anything at all before that happened. I don't know who Magda is when she's not possessed..."

"From what I knew, she was quite a decent young witch," Constance offered, quietly, struggling with herself over the fact that she had never sought to find out what happened to the girl that had once stood up for her against Broomhead.

"We could theorise that I – Magda – was a good little witch version of Rocky. But in all honesty, I'm not that sure, Constance," Rocky replied, "I don't trust this face as far as I can remember it."

The words hung awkwardly between them for a while, before Constance noticed the time and realised that the girls would soon be expecting to meet with them both.

"I suppose I should come down with you Rocky... for the girls more than anything... they'll wonder where I am..." Constance muttered feebly, "But...could you...do my hair for me? I have to at least look the part, and it'll take such a long time without magic"

"You're _actually_ going to continue pretending that nothing happened, aren't you?" said Rocky incredulously.

"Please, Rocky."


	25. Chapter 25

"I know I'm never much of a morning-person but I actually feel like reheated death," Rocky moaned, sighing loudly as she took her seat.

"Will you be alright, Miss?" asked Mildred, looking concerned.

Rocky nodded, taking a deep breath which may have just about concealed a large yawn.

Everyone who had been involved in the events of the previous evening had gathered in the staff room. It was hardly an ideal place for more than its usual few occupants as shown by the lack of space once Ethel had conjured a few extra chairs.

"What happened when you... erm... fell down?" Mildred asked shyly.

"Yeah," Griselda chipped in, "Whatever happened to you wasn't a possession punishment, that only goes as far as the blood and-"

"How do you know about that, Griselda?" Constance interrupted sharply, making a few of the girls jump as she had sat rather unnoticeably subdued until that point.

Griselda looked sheepish for a moment before reaching into her bag and pulling out a large old book.

"I read some of this," she muttered, quickly handing it over to Constance as she reached for it, "You forgot to pick it up in the potions lab last night and I took it because – well, because I didn't think we should leave it lying around"

"Wise move," Rocky admitted as Constance looked as though she was torn between thanking and reprimanding the girl. "You're right, too, it wasn't the punishments, it was me."

"What?" said Ethel and Constance in unison.

"Yeah," Rocky sighed, "I hit Agatha with a Thanatos spell," she awkwardly glanced sideways as Constance let slip an unintentionally loud gasp, "But somehow she was fighting it, and the possession stayed strong. I had to do something to stop it"

"What did you do?" Constance whispered, finally taking her seat, "I actually thought you were dying!"

"I was a little bit," Rocky replied, trying to ignore the feeling of horror radiating from around her, "Thought projection. There is a way to keep the commands away from your magic when you can't disobey anymore – and this won't be in the books – if you can project your own thoughts onto something else, you take the command thoughts with them. But your body can't live long without your thoughts."

Her explanation met a mixture of confused and intrigued expressions, most prominent of which was Constance's.

"When you say project them onto something else-"

"You," Rocky confirmed Constance's sneaking suspicion, "And Imogen, for a little while, too. I'm sorry, it was the only way I could think. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep holding it off."

"How could you do that without us noticing? Surely, what – _two_ extra sets of thoughts..." said Imogen, who was hoping she had managed to keep track of the main details of the explanations of the night's events.

"I flicked between you quite quickly," Rocky explained, "I went to Constance first, before I realised that I didn't know what it might do to her. And I don't know whether I imagined it or not, but you started to feel really weird the longer I stayed, and I was frightened so I went to Imogen for a moment and just kept swapping for a while. I've only ever done it on a bird before. I summoned Ally but she didn't get here quick enough."

"I thought Ally came because she sensed you were in danger," Constance admitted, knowing that phoenixes were particularly intuitive creatures, "You said she's part-phoenix, I thought that maybe-"

"No," Rocky laughed as though it was obviously a silly idea, "She's not smart enough for that!"

As though to prove it, Ally fluttered into the window pane behind Rocky and pecked at the glass before looking around suspiciously at the witches.

"When did you beat that before?" said Enid.

"I got caught up in the Great Magic Quarrels," Rocky replied, making an effort to ensure her words were not lies, but did not contain the full truth either, "That's why I look different now, too, I've just realised I didn't even tell everyone who I am"

"It's ok," Constance interjected quietly, "I told them that you might look different when you came back"

"We weren't expecting quite so much bloodstains though, Miss." Sybil admitted.

"Sorry," Rocky smiled slightly. In honesty, Rocky hadn't expected to return so heavily bloodstained either. The flaw in her plan was that she had not expected Agatha to try to control her again.

"It's really hard to fight it," Enid murmured quietly.

"Yeah it is," Rocky realised to herself that Magda must have had a strong sense of right and wrong to enable her to fight against evil the first time around, "What made you fight it, Enid? For a while, you looked like you wouldn't but then suddenly you-"

"Miss Hardbroom," she replied simply.

"Me?" Constance sounded surprised, "What did I do?"

Enid shrugged, "I'm mischievous, but I'm not evil."

This was clearly something that Constance understood better than the others. Silence filled the room for a moment before Amelia spoke for the first time in the morning.

"It still remains that I need to offer some kind of explanation to the rest of the school," she said, in rather more soft tones than those she used on Rocky previously, "I think we've established that a group of wicked witches targeted the school for the steel witches within it, using particularly illicit forms of magic and causing considerable damage in the process – but how on earth did they get in?"

"Miss Hardbroom's old broomstick," Mildred muttered, looking down in shame.

"Really?" Amelia questioned.

"I've been thinking that it may have been involved, probably just by chance," replied Constance, "In hindsight, of course, those witches must have been lingering in the forest for quite some time."

"What?" gasped Amelia, "All of them?"

"At least one of them," Rocky said, cottoning on to what Constance meant.

"Has anyone heard whispering trees?" asked Constance, almost as though it was the most natural question in the world.

"Yeah!" Griselda exclaimed, "When you caught us talking about ghosts the other night, Miss!"

Ethel made a '_what-are-you-talking-about-you-nutter'_ face but was ignored.

"Yes," Constance agreed, "I heard it too, when we were flying, Rocky. I put it down to tiredness and darkness playing tricks, but I really think it was something else now."

"I've been hearing something, too, I didn't say anything because I thought it was too crazy," Imogen admitted quietly, "When I've been running, like whispering but you can never hear what it says..."

"I know what it says," Rocky interrupted, _"Seek the steel, make a deal and they will reveal,"_

"You're so creepy," Sybil whispered before she could stop herself.

"I didn't know at the time," Rocky quickly assured the others, "Sometimes I used to get flashbacks of the old possession rhymes and I thought it was that again, there's a very subtle difference...in hindsight."

* * *

After deciding that in light of the incapacitation of the recently appointed Mistress of All Magic, the Grand Wizard would come to decide the fate of the still-frozen wicked witches, Amelia dismissed the students.

"Wait, Kada, what's that on your knee?" she asked, noticing a mark as the girls stood to leave the room.

"Oh, it's just a cut," she shrugged, "it was this," she pulled out a small fragment of deep blue crystal from her pocket and held it up to the light, "I must've knelt on it when I was using our glass crystals."

She dropped it into Rocky's hand and casually followed the others out of the room, ignoring the look of intermingled horror and suspicion from Constance.

Constance quickly excused herself to tidy the potions lab.

Rocky considered following but was cornered by Amelia.

"Listen," she took a breath, "I want to apologise to you. I know that Agatha made you do all those things and... I know about possession magic and I know that you're not really evil. I just never expected you to turn up under my roof."

* * *

Ally swooped gracefully to Constance's shoulder as Rocky appeared in front of the desk she was sitting at, stumbling over her own feet and cursing her lack of dignity when it came to that particular kind of magic.

Constance scowled as she looked up.

"Some advice, Rocky," she sighed, "Make yourself invisible before you transport, then if you do insist on messing up your landing, at least I won't have to see it,"

"Oh, thanks," Rocky smiled in response, "I've been let off assembly, Miss Bat says I'm too scary-looking...not that any of the kids are old enough to recognise me...I should've changed my hair back too," she flicked a stray piece of dark frizz away from her face, rambling in an attempt to start a conversation that was about something more trivial, "I much preferred those little bits that were much more reddish than the rest... that you seemed to find so offensive when I first came here..."

She picked up a spoon and began twirling it around in her fingers, much to her colleague's annoyance.

"Did you want something?" she snapped.

"Hmm, yeah, actually... Constance, do you still have my cloak? I wondered if I could maybe borrow your books."

Constance shot a scornful look before lifting herself half-heartedly to stand up.

"You may as well keep them," she spat, "I have no use for them now," she kicked up the corner of the rug before kneeling down and lifting a loose floorboard to reveal a small stash of hidden items.

"_That's_ where you hide them?" Rocky said before she could stop herself.

Constance leant back on her heels with a menacing look as she lifted the heavy cloak out of the hole.

"It's not like I can do any better now, is it?"she snapped throwing the cloak rather viciously across the room.

Rocky caught it and left, silently apologising for her moment of insensitivity.

Constance was left alone in a room that she didn't really have the heart nor the energy to tidy. Staring at the bird and those eyes that seemed to be eternally suspicious, she wondered what kind of creature it _really_ was. Part-phoenix, she knew, but what was the other part?


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: This ****_was_**** going to be the final chapter...until I went and wrote an epilogue _**

* * *

Rocky collided with a wall again; feeling a great sense of irritation that simply moving around was now such a challenge for her. She needed to find out what was happening and why...and she needed to summon Ally again.

* * *

"Miss Hardbroom!"

Constance turned, startled, to see Kada at the bottom of the stairs.

"Why aren't you in the hall?" she demanded.

"I wondered if I could have a word with you, Miss Hardbroom," Kada replied, feigning politeness before adding, "And let's be honest, I already know what's going to be said..."

Constance couldn't deny the truth in the girl's words, and fleetingly remembered how Rocky had fearfully asked her to look after Kada.

"Alright," she sighed, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Hang on," Kada said, nonchalantly letting herself into the staffroom ahead of her teacher.

"What're you-"

"I had to show you something," she interrupted, closing the door behind them. Kada reached under the collar of her blouse for a thin silver chain, suppressing a smile as she noticed Constance looking prepared to scold her for having jewellery.

"Right at the end of the Quarrels, when I was a little kid, Agatha and Broomhead targeted my family," she explained, pulling out the shining silver stone on the chain, "Obviously I was only little, I wasn't a very strong fighter but they took my magic just to get me out of their way. It was just as the trace was created, and they were caught. My parents, though... they... cursed each other over it..."

She paused, fighting back the pain of her memories.

"Kada-"

"No, I'm ok," she said, forcing a smile, "Rocky's my cousin, she took care of me... and then a few years ago, she gave this to me. Someone salvaged the crystal they tried to take my magic with. I don't know how, but they made it so that I can still use my magic if I wear this,"

Constance thought for a moment that the girl was playing a cruel joke on her. But in thinking more carefully about it, she hazily recalled reading something somewhere about the repossession of snatched magic – she just couldn't remember the exact details.

"Why are you telling me this?" Constance asked, trying to sound indifferent and appear less affected by it that she actually was.

"I just – know it's awful, Miss," said Kada, "I wanted to tell you – don't lose hope"

* * *

It was Imogen who stumbled across Rocky sitting in the semi-darkness at the table in the dungeons, days later. It was a casual haunt of HB's but _this_ was an unusual occurrence. To match this unusualness, the non-witch skulked in the shadows for a while, watching.

_Rocky had surrounded herself with several large books, and spent most of her time scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper, twirling what looked like a crystal in her other hand._

_Her eyes eventually widened in enlightenment; she had found the last of the many spells that she had been looking for. Stacking the books to one side, she set the crystal spinning, floating just above the table's surface. Casting spell after spell, she hoped beyond all else that she had not miscalculated anything. After a long string of muttered incantations, the rock stood perfectly still in the air, emitting a sparkling glow; it's deep blue crystalline surface transformed into shining silver._

Imogen's curiosity got the better of her, and she walked further into the room.

"What are you doing?" she said sharply.

The bird looked up before Imogen simply heard, "Experimenting..."


	27. Chapter 27 'Epilogues'

**AN: This, I think, is it. Partly because my loose ends are tied, partly because I have to go back to uni next week. I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with everything, I'm disillusioned as usual. May edit when I have more energy/inspiration..but still, much loves to you lovely readers!**

* * *

"No, Imogen, you certainly cannot _keep it_!"

The sports mistress scrunched her nose even though she had definitely not expected any other answer.

"After everything that's happened, I can't _believe_ you would even ask that!" Rocky scolded her, narrowing her eyes and shooting a dangerous glare at the sports mistress.

"You didn't seriously think that I'd try to steal it, did you?"

"I'm not sorry, Imogen"

"You're _not _sorry?"

"No," Rocky's voice paused, "I thought you understood the seriousness of this by now. If you think this is something to joke about-"

"It's not; I know it's not. Look, I admit that I've sometimes said that I wish I could be a witch, but I'd never do something like that!"

Imogen noticed Rocky purse her lips and scowl in an oddly unfamiliar way.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I was honestly joking around, but I didn't think about what I was saying."

Rocky felt a brief sense of satisfaction.

"Good," she said sharply, "Now if you don't mind, there's a devastated witch upstairs, pretending to have what I hold here in my hand,"

* * *

Imogen tapped lightly before poking her head around the unusually slightly open door.

"Can I come in? We've - I've got something for you"

Imogen nervously waited for a reply with baited breath – even without magic, she knew that Constance Hardbroom could still give one hell of a dirty look and a diamond-cutting remark.

"What is it now?" Constance sighed wearily. She was too tired. Tired of the questions; the doubts; the uncertainty. Tired of being powerless.

Imogen held out a silver chain which lifted a shining silver rock from the palm of her hand. Constance stood silently, folding her arms as her long hair cascaded down the back of her black dress. She stared intently at the rock for a moment before speaking.

"I-is that-," she stammered, "Is that what I think it is?"

The sports mistress's teasing tongue desperately wanted to say something along the lines of _'It depends on what you think it is' _but she decided on silence instead, and reached up and placed the silver chain around Constance's neck. The tall witch just stood there, rather stunned, holding the rock that now hung from her.

"Try it, Constance!" Imogen blurted out impatiently.

Part of Constance felt that she did not dare try it for fear that it would not work. Uncharacteristically, she had not bothered to read up on the magic that Kada had told her about in the staff room. She was too frightened of building false hope in a world where hope should never have existed. She just felt the rock between her fingers for a moment, closing her eyes.

Then she took a sharp breath, and disappeared.

The non-witch looked around wildly.

"I take it it works then?" Imogen half-laughed, smiling to herself, "Trust her to test it with something simple!"

* * *

Constance felt safer with her magic back with her, but she couldn't shake a startling realisation. Magic couldn't just be _given_ back.

A lose slate rattled before Rocky appeared, sitting perfectly-balanced beside her.

"Well done," she smiled slightly, "I almost didn't notice you"

Constance heard Rocky's laugh as she reached down to straighten the tile she had dislodged while invisible.

"Someone needs to fix this roof," she said, "And how cold is it up here?" she added, changing the subject before Constance could realise that Rocky had been there all along, and had used an invisibility potion rather than transporting herself by magic.

Constance noticed that she shivered slightly. Enjoying her recovered magical ability, Constance took it upon herself to conjure one of Rocky's energy orbs and began to play with it between her hands, changing its shape and moving it around the darkening sky.

"What gave you the idea to make these?" she asked, slightly irritated as she realised that the weird little orbs had become quite entertaining.

"If I'm honest... I got the idea from the fire blazing," Rocky fidgeted slightly, "The first time around... In fact, that's probably how you knew how to get the flames to follow your fingers; it's the same principles, really,"

Constance shook her head in dismay.

"You know how to spark a fire blaze; you can do a Thanatos spell; the thing you're best at is just deception and secrecy; and the thought things you can do are only because you found out how to displace your thoughts when you were under possession. Is all your magic accidentally rooted in evil?"

"Little bit, yeah," Rocky sighed; she had effectively been taught to use magic with the force of evil as her mentor. Like so many steel witches, she had been poached by wicked witches, trained to play with dirty tactics. In her mind, the only advantage was that she could use those skills to fight against evil in the end.

"Do you think, Rocky, do you think they wanted the girls or...us?"

Rocky pondered the thought for a while. Her first instinct had just been to defend anyone with steel magic.

_They definitely didn't know about Mildred and probably not about Kada either...Agatha had admitted that she had only expected a couple of witches...but who did that mean? Me and Constance...? Fenella is Griselda's best friend, but she had been possessed to seek Hallows...Ethel and Sybil? Maybe that makes more sense; wouldn't it be foolish to try to capture fully trained witches? But then, wicked witches aren't exactly known for being wise. And I couldn't pick up who Enid was being asked to go after. Oh, I really don't know!_

Rocky just transmitted her train of thought to Constance's mind, hoping that it would make more sense than if she tried to translate it into words to speak.

"They wouldn't have known about you, not as Rocky Fluxweed," Constance pointed out,

"Broomhead knew about you, though,"

"Yes, I suppose she would have known everything that I knew too. I knew about Griselda and the Hallows, but that's only because – "

_Because what?_ Constance stopped, attempting to decide what it was she wanted to say. _Would it be questionable to admit to knowing the names of two targeted steel families, even though she had told Rocky that she didn't have a full knowledge of all the intricacies of the Quarrels? But would Rocky guess anyway, from that little detail in the memory... that moment when Rocky had suddenly done a double take and thought 'Constance...what?'_

"Constance..." Rocky hesitated, "Are _you_ a Hallow?"

Constance shook her head, "Worse."

"What?"

"I was a bit of an experiment. My mother's family were Hallows... My father's family were Blackwoods... I'm a Hallow _and_ a Blackwood..."

"Constance Hallow-Blackwood?" Rocky said softly, "That's what Broomhead was calling you? In the memory?"

Constance nodded solemnly, knowing that most of the magical community would not understand why she did not feel honoured by her heritage.

"They wanted to see whether it was possible to create a witch more powerful than an ordinary steel witch."

"What – so they could use you against the others?"

"Possibly. But you have to understand that I never asked for that power, and I never deigned to try it out!"

She spoke as though she was panicked, as though she had much experience of the terrible stigma of powerful magic.

"I know," Rocky smiled reassuringly, "_Sometimes the safest place for power is in the hands of someone who never asked for it_"

Constance pondered those words for a moment, perhaps realising just how significant they were.

"Perhaps that's why they were so desperate to come up with effective possession magic, though," for the first time, Constance voiced her eternal fear of losing control.

"I don't think so... Constance... was your mother Zelda Hallow?"

Really, it was a question that neither needed to be asked nor answered at this point.

"Shut up, Rocky, I know you didn't kill her," Constance whispered, almost mortified that this had finally crept into a conversation, "It might have been to avoid your Thanatos spell, but it _was_ suicide."

"Maybe it wasn't just for that reason?"

It was then that it dawned on Constance that the explanation she had been given by Broomhead might not have held the whole truth.

"What are you saying?" she asked, feigning only a slight curiosity.

"I just..." Rocky hesitated, weighing up the likelihood that her inferences were correct, "I know they had possessed a witch before they had me... one that got away..."

"You think it could have been her?"

* * *

_"The Blackwood Blade, Kada," she handed over the metal pin she had taken from her hair, "You know what it is, you know what to do?"_

_The girl nodded solemnly._

_"Do you really have to do this?"_

_"I'm no witch, dear," she sighed, "We both know that. I wish I didn't have to ask this of you, I really...it's only fair that I be the one to make the sacrifice."_

_She held out her hand, and a crystalline rock. __The magic within the rock was powerful, but needed something else to be usable._

_"Keep the Blade safe, it's yours by rights,"_

_Even as she said those words, Kada noticed the engraved letters on the metal change...ZH...MM...CHB...KK... _

* * *

Rocky was almost certain of what she knew. She tried to convince herself that she would make things right, that she _had_ made things right. Thinking of the sacrifice she had made to return Constance's magic, she spoke again,

"They promise you the one thing you want above everything else..."

"Like... like a child with all the magic she could possibly give?" Constance remembered her mother; she was sure that her effortless teaching and gentle but strong guidance were the main reasons she had always striven to be the best.

"Is that what she wanted?" Rocky asked thoughtfully, before she remembered the point she was making, "I think she was the one...because...the last thing I said to her was that she should join them and use her steel for their glory, but she said _never_...because...she didn't want to, she didn't want to be possessed again..."

"Rocky," Constance sniffed, hiding the threatening tears of memory and changing the subject slightly, "What did they promise you?"

Rocky just shook her head in response. It was the one memory that made her question whether the young Magda Mandrake had ever been a truly good witch at all.


End file.
